


Little Empires II

by bethonie (Formula_Tea)



Series: Little Empires [2]
Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Family, Friendship, Super Powers AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-17
Updated: 2015-02-25
Packaged: 2018-03-01 22:38:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 29
Words: 53,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2790254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Formula_Tea/pseuds/bethonie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Follow up of Little Empires. The Williams family have been quite happy for a while but now a fellow power possessor is in need of a family and Rob and Claire think they might be able to help.<br/>After everything that happened at Ferrari, the family is still living happily, and have found a new power possessor they feel "fits" better with Kimi. Only Kimi knows there's something wrong with the family and he doesn't want what he knows has happened before to happen again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hey Brother

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to Little Empires (funnily enough).  
> Updates at the moment will be weekly (hopefully) and chapter titles lyrics from Avicii's Hey Brother (and possibly other songs not yet determined).  
> Any feedback/advice/comments welcome! Hope you enjoy!

“We’re going to have to speak to them,” Claire says as she and Rob come back into the house, carrying plastic bags of shopping.

“Now?” Rob asks. “Or do we decide what to do first?”

Understandably, Claire is the more worried of the two of them. They’ve only really started to get things back to normal, and neither of them want to bring an unknown power possessor into the house, but it’s Claire who was sat with Valtteri after Pastor left. She doesn’t want something like that to happen again.

“Now,” Claire says. They dump the bags of shopping on the table. “I’ll put this away, you go and bring them down.”

“Sure,” Rob says, grinning. “ _I_ get the hard part.”

 

It’s one of the few days the tutors aren’t due to come round, and Valtteri and Felipe are sat in Felipe’s room, Valtteri trying to help Felipe with some of the homework they’ve been set by the tutors. They both think it’s stupid, but it’s been set, and they need to do it.

Rob doesn’t even bother knocking before he comes into the room. They both look up at him, glad to have an excuse to stop studying.

“Can you come downstairs? We need to talk to you.”

“What about?” Felipe asks, suspiciously.

“We’ll explain when you’re downstairs,” Rob says. “Come on.”

Rob leaves and it’s only then that Valtteri moves. He sighs and rolls his eyes, closing the textbook and pushing himself off of the bed. Felipe frowns.

“Tortay?”

Valtteri smiles down at the floor, trying to ignore Felipe’s hand on his shoulder.

Tortay is their key word. They’re both sick of being asked _what’s wrong_ because, even after everything that’s happened, things are still wrong. They don’t ask what’s wrong. They have Tortay.

“You know they want to bring a new kid, don’t you?” Valtteri says.

“What?”

“I heard them talking about it the other day,” Valtteri says. He hadn’t meant to be sneaking around the house, just practicing, but he’d heard Rob and Claire talking and he couldn’t help but listen. “It’ll be that they want to talk about now.”

Felipe frowns and follows Valtteri down the stairs. “They can’t bring someone else here, can they?”

Valtteri shrugs. It’s what he’s worried about too. They finally fit together now, and he feels _happy_. He doesn’t want that to change.

 

Susie grins down at the bracelet she’s wrapping and unwrapping around her free hand, the other hand stuck to the phone at her ear.

“Love you,” she says, blushing even though she’s in the room by herself.

“I love you more,” Toto replies.

“I don’t know why,” Susie says. “I don’t do anything like this for you.”

“Like what?” Toto asks.

“I don’t buy you gifts.”

“You are all the gift I need,” Toto says, making Susie cringe with glee.

As he did with the boys, Rob comes into the room without knocking.

“Susie, I-.”

“ _Rob_!” Susie snaps, trying to hide the bracelet, stop herself blushing, and glare at Rob at the same time. “Why can’t you knock the door?”

Rob almost bursts out laughing, which only makes Susie even angrier. She throws her pillow at him, hanging up so she can push Rob out of the room.”

“Get out! What do you want?”

Rob’s trying not to laugh whilst the teenager pushes him out of the room, getting angrier and angrier by the second.

“Me and your mum want to speak to you all,” he manages to spit out.

“Can’t you _knock_?” Susie says, again. “What do you want to talk about?”

“You can see if you come downstairs,” Rob says, still grinning to himself as he follows the boys down the stairs.

Susie groans loudly and goes to get her phone before going downstairs to see what Rob and Claire want.

 

“You went in without knocking, didn’t you,” Claire says, noticing Rob’s grin when he comes downstairs.

Rob rolls his eyes and falls onto the sofa between the boys. “When did she turn into a teenager?”

“Guess,” Claire says, leaning against the wall behind her with her arms crossed.

Susie comes into the room a couple of seconds later, scowls at Rob, then sits on the arm of the sofa, also crossing her arms.

Claire looks between the three of them. They’ve put off telling them for as long as they can. It can’t wait any longer. Susie looks bored, but Felipe and Valtteri both look worried and it’s them Claire’s worried about. Valtteri. If they get this wrong, with Valtteri as delicate as he is, they might fall all the way back to Pastor…

“Rob and I have been talking,” Claire begins. “And we’ve been talking about some of the other parents…”

Felipe knows then Valtteri’s right then. He’s heard that before.

“Have you heard about Jean-Eric?” Claire says. She doesn’t know why she’s the one telling them this, but it isn’t worth arguing with Rob over. “From Torro Rosso?”

Felipe and Valtteri frown and both look at Rob. Susie sits up.

“The kid?” she asks.

“Yeah,” Claire says. “Torro Rosso don’t think he’s part of they’re family.”

“So you think maybe he belongs here?” Felipe asks.

“Yeah,” Claire says, nodding. “Yeah, that’s right.”

Felipe turns to Rob again. It isn’t that he doesn’t trust Claire. They’ve been getting closer. But he still turns to Rob in the same way Valtteri turns to Claire.

“Then what happens to us?” he asks.

“What do you mean?” Susie asks, suddenly interested. “What happens to us?”

“Nothing happens to you,” Rob insists.

“Is not space for us all,” Valtteri mumbles.

“Yes there is,” Rob says. “We just want to give it a try, first. It might not work out. You and Felipe can stay in the same room, just whilst we see how things work out.”

“That’s not fair,” Felipe cries.

“You spend most of the time in the same room anyway,” Rob laughs. “It won’t be bad.”

“Don’t we get a say in this?” Susie asks.

“We know what’s best,” Claire says. They both knew they would be like this, but it’s best they hear like this than for them to show up with Jean-Eric as a surprise.

“Felipe’s right,” Susie says. “This isn’t fair.”

She stands again and marches back up to here room. All four of them count the thumps of her steps on the stairs then her bedroom door slamming shut.

Claire sighs. “If it doesn’t work for us, Jean-Eric can find something else,” she says. “You three are the most important thing to us.”

“So you are not…” Felipe looks between Rob and Claire, not sure he wants to ask in case he gets an answer he doesn’t like. “You are not going to swap one of us.”

Rob laughs and pulls Felipe into a hug. “Of course not. You three belong here, and that’s not going to change.” He looks down at Valtteri, who shares his brother’s relief. “You didn’t… you didn’t really think that, did you?”

Valtteri shrugs. “Is how it has worked before.”

“We would never let you three go,” Claire says, unable to believe the boys would even think that. “We’re a family.”

 

“Kimi? Could you come downstairs please?”

Kimi rolls onto his side to look at the alarm clock. It’s still morning, he thinks. Too early to be getting up if there isn’t a tutor coming. He can’t think what they want with him this time. Sleepily, he runs through the chores he’s supposed to do, but none of them require him to be awake before two o’clock. It’s can’t be important, he decides, and rolls back over to go back upstairs.

“If you don’t come downstairs, we’ll come up.”

Kimi’s already back asleep by this point, and doesn’t hear the threat.

“We did warn you.”

A couple of seconds later, Kimi’s bedroom door crashes into the wall behind it and a lump of bone and muscles projects itself onto of Kimi, bouncing and giggling. Kimi is forced awake this time and peers at the grinning child bouncing on top of him.

“Sebastian?”

Sebastian nods, although that might be a side effect of the bouncing.

Confused, Kimi sits up and turns to the door for answers. Maurizio, the latest in a long line of people the family has brought in to try to “parent” Kimi, is stood in the doorway, along with a woman Kimi has seen a couple of times at the assessments but he doesn’t know her name. The woman’s grinning.

“What is he doing here?” he asks.

“I’m your _brother_ Kimi!” Sebastian says, excitedly.

The confused expression turns into one of horror as he looks between the parents and the child. “No.” Sebastian is one of the few people at the assessments Kimi _actually_ likes spending time with. If he’s honest, Sebastian is probably the most likely of all of them to be his brother. But he’s not part of Ferrari. He cannot be part of Ferrari.

“We know you two fit together well,” Maurizio says. “And that’s important for the development of your powers.”

“He’s not my brother,” Kimi says.

Sebastian’s face falls. “You don’t want me?”

“No,” Kimi says. He brushes Sebastian off of his bed and pushes himself further under the covers “I am going to sleep.”

Sebastian looks up at the two adults with tears in his eyes. “Britta?”

“Come on,” the woman says, holding out a hand for Sebastian to take. “Kimi’s just grumpy because he’s tired. He’ll be better later on. Let’s go and get some biscuits.”

Britta and Sebastian leave Kimi’s room and head down the stairs. Maurizio looks down at the lump that is the teenager under the covers. “I know we should have told you sooner, Kimi, but it happened very fast.”

“I thought you wanted the Bottas kid?” Kimi says, not moving from under the covers.

“We think you and Sebastian fit together better,” Maurizio says.

Kimi snorts. As if that’s ever mattered with Ferrari. He knows how things work here and he hasn’t really minded before. It is nothing to do with him. But he is not going to sit back and let them do… _things_ to Sebastian. Maurizio is right. He and Sebastian fit together. But he can’t be part of Ferrari.

“Sebastian is here,” Maurizio says. “That is the end of it.”


	2. There's An Endless Road To Rediscover

Rob’s most nervous about the meeting. He’s never had to do something like this before. Even though he worked for the Ferrari family when they brought Fernando into the family, he was never part of the family and had never had to sit down with the power possessor to explain things to him. Claire had been part of the Williams family her entire life and done this a million times before. Of course she was still nervous, but it was nothing compared to Rob.

Jean-Eric sits as close as possible to Helmut, his thumb in his mouth and a stuffed toy held tightly in his other arm. The kid is only six, but he looks even younger. It scares Rob a little.

Claire begins. “Hi,” she says, smiling sweetly and leaning forward so she’s at the child’s height. “I’m Claire and this is Rob. We’re from Williams. I’m sure Helmut told you all about us.”

Jean-Eric stares at Claire, not reacting in the slightest. Claire’s smile doesn’t fall, but she sits back a little to let Rob speak.

“What’s that?” Rob asks, pointing to the toy. He doesn’t know what to say.

Jean-Eric’s gaze turns to Rob, then he looks down at the toy and holds it up for Rob to see better. “Dan,” he says around his thumb.

The stuffed toy looks like a little fluffy badger, an odd animal to have, Rob thinks, but he doesn’t say anything.

“He doesn’t go anywhere without it,” Helmut explains. “One of the boys we used to have gave it to him.”

Jean-Eric nods, but doesn’t say anything. They sit in silence for a couple of minutes, nobody sure what to say. Rob turns to Claire, hoping she has an idea.

“Why don’t you tell us about your power?” Claire says. “Helmut says you’ve been struggling a little. Maybe we can help you with that.”

Jean-Eric looks between Claire and Helmut.

_I can make people hear me without somebody saying anything._

Rob jumps back, stunned. Helmut has not warned him about that.

“Jev,” Helmut hisses.

 _Sorry_.

“You… can you hear our thoughts?” Rob asks.

Jean-Eric shakes his head, huddling closer to Helmut.

“It’s pretty cool,” Rob says and Jean-Eric smiles a little.

“You know you cannot stay with the Torro Rossos anymore, don’t you,” Claire says, gently.

Jean-Eric nods, the smile gone.

“What we want to do is see if you belong with us,” Claire says. “Has Helmut explained to you?”

Jean-Eric nods. If things work out, he can live with the Williams family. If not, then they have to find somewhere else for him to stay. Helmut and the others are tired of looking now and tired of him.

“That’s good,” Claire says. “Have you got any questions? It’s ok if you don’t understand everything straight away, that’s why Rob and I are here today.”

Jean-Eric looks between Rob and Claire, trying to come up with the courage to speak, but he can’t, and he shakes his head.

“Well, that’s ok?” Claire says, smiling. “We’re going to leave you with Helmut today, and you can pack all your things and come to stay with us for a little while to see if things work.”

Jean-Eric smiles weakly. It doesn’t take special powers for Rob to be able to tell how nervous he is. For some reason, that makes him feel a little better. Claire stands to leave, telling the child they’d be back soon, but Rob stays seated watching Jean-Eric.

“Rob?”

Claire’s waiting for him. Even Jean-Eric has noticed Rob staring at him. Claire clears her throat and Rob stands, smiles weakly at the six year old, and follows Claire out.

 

“You’re still a little behind where I think you can be,” Andrew says as he follows Felipe down the stairs. “But I think it shouldn’t be long before you’re there. Woah! Jonathan! Can you control your child?”

Felipe grins as Valtteri flies past them up the stairs, his feet knocking Andrew’s hat off as he goes. Jonathan is standing by the front door, smiling smugly.

“Ready to go?”

Andrew pushes his hat back onto his head and marches down the last couple of stairs. “Just keep practicing Felipe. I’ll see you on Thursday.”

Just as the tutors are leaving, Susie comes back into the house. She smiles politely and nods to Andrew and Jonathan before they leave. Valtteri sets down on the stairs beside Felipe and they both grin at their little sister. She glares at them and makes to go up the stairs, but the boys stop her, so she stands on the step with her hands on her hips.

“Let me past.”

“Have you been with Toto?” Felipe asks, still grinning.

“You guys are so immature, let me past,” Susie complains.

“Aww, you are so _adorable_ ,” Felipe coos.

“And you’re a jerk,” Susie says.

“Oh, I’m so hurt.”

“Are Mum and Rob still out?” Susie asks, trying to change the subject, but also a little worried. If Claire hears about her and Toto they’re going to have _another_ talk, and Susie doesn’t think she’s ever going to be able to deal with the embarrassment of that again.

“Yeah,” Valtteri says. “Should be back soon.”

“Are they bringing back the kid today?” she asks.

“Nope,” Felipe says. “Rob says he is coming back with them tomorrow.”

Susie huffs and sits on the step below Felipe and Valtteri, her arms still crossed. “What are we going to do about it?”

“What do you mean?” Valtteri asks.

“What are we going to do about it?” Susie repeats. “You said yourself, when one kid comes in, another leaves. I don’t want to leave, and I don’t want either of you two to leave, as annoying as you are. We’re a family. Why can’t Mum and Rob see that?”

“They won’t split us up,” Felipe says. “They said earlier.”

“Yeah, that’s what they _said_ ,” Susie says. “It’s ok for you two. You can’t function without each other. It’s obvious you belong together. It’ll be me the get rid of to make space for this kid.”

“You’ve been at Williams since you were a baby, haven’t you?” Felipe says. “Claire will not let you go anywhere. If it will be anyone leaving, it’ll be me. Last in, first out.”

“But you are close to Rob,” Valtteri says. “And Susie, you are close to Claire when you are not locking yourself in your room. They will both fight for you to stay. But who will be fighting for me?”

“See,” Susie says, standing. “We don’t know who they’re going to kick out and I don’t want it to be any of us. It’s alright trying to help this Jean-Eric out, but not if it’s going to hurt us. I don’t want that to happen again.”

“So,” Felipe says, slowly. “What are we going to do?”

 

When Kimi eventually comes downstairs, Sebastian is sat on the sofa with Britta, a tin of biscuits between them. They both look up at Kimi, not sure how he’s going to react. Kimi sighs and flops down on Sebastian’s other side, leaning over him to take a biscuit.

“Sorry about earlier,” Sebastian says, quietly. “I didn’t mean to wake you. I mean… I did but… I was just excited, and I thought you would be happy.”

“I am happy,” Kimi lies. “I was just tired.”

There’s no point upsetting Sebastian when Kimi can’t even explain properly. Ferrari is not a good place. Kimi doesn’t know what exactly they get up to, but he knows they’ve hurt Felipe, and Fernando, and they tried to do the same to Valtteri. He couldn’t care less about any of those, but he is not going to let anything happen to Sebastian.

For once, Ferrari have got it right. Sebastian’s his little brother. He needs protecting.

“Isn’t this brilliant,” Sebastian says, excitedly. “We’re going to do better now, Kimi. I know it.”

It makes sense why the family want Sebastian. The youngest ever power possessor to gain any real control over his physical powers. The family liked powerful power possessors. Kimi once heard one of the adults say they ‘worked better’.

“This is Britta,” Sebastian says after the woman has prods him to introduce her. “She’s my parent. Well, now she’s yours too.”

“Hopefully I’ll last a little longer than all the others, hey,” Britta says.

Kimi just stares at her, trying to figure out if she knows what Ferrari are really like and why Sebastian is here. She doesn’t look like the type Ferrari usually bring in. She doesn’t look like any of the parents Kimi has had whilst he’s been here. She probably has a connection with Sebastian. She’s family.

“Where’s Maurizio?” Kimi asks.

“He’s just gone to get some last bits for my room,” Sebastian says. “He said it would be better if we stayed here.”

Kimi doubts that’s where he’s gone, but doesn’t say anything. What little he does know will get him into trouble if he tells anyone. He already knows that.

“How long will he be?” Kimi asks.

“A while yet, I expect,” Britta says.

“Do you want me to show you around the town tomorrow, Seb?” Kimi offers. He needs to get him alone before he can talk to him. He’s not going to tell him what Ferrari are really like, just… make sure he’s being careful.

“Really?” Sebastian asks, excitedly. He turns to Britta. “Can I go?”

“Sure,” Britta says, puzzled. “If Kimi wants to take you?”

“Yes!” Sebastian grins and jumps off of the sofa, almost knocking his brother over when he hugs him.

 

“So…” Rob looks around the silent table. He hasn’t seen them this quiet in months. Even their thoughts are quiet, which is a little unsettling.

Valtteri, Felipe, and Susie look between each other. None of them want to say anything until Rob’s finished his sentence.

“What’s the matter?” Rob asks.

“Nothing,” Valtteri mumbles. It’s all anyone gets from him in answer to that question.

“Just hungry,” Felipe says, pushing food into his mouth.

Susie says nothing. Rob and Claire turn to her, waiting for her answer. Susie looks up at them, shrugs, then turns back to her food.

“Susie?” Claire asks.

“What?”

“What’s the matter?” Claire asks.

“Nothing.”

“Susie,” Claire tries. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” Susie snaps. “You never push Valtteri and Felipe like this.”

“Susie.”

“I’m going to my room,” Susie snaps, pushing herself away from the table and marching up the stairs.

Claire stands to go after her but Felipe just shakes his head. “She will not answer you.”

“Do you know what’s up with her?” Rob asks.

Valtteri and Felipe look between each other, then Felipe shakes his head. “Think maybe you can figure it out for yourself.”


	3. Hey Sister

Felipe and Valtteri are in Valtteri’s bedroom. They spend more time in Valtteri’s room and they’ve decided they’ll spend the time Jean-Eric’s with them in there too. They’re both sat on the bed, watching Claire and Rob try to get Susie to come out of her room before they go to pick up Jean-Eric.

They’re not getting her out.

“Come on, Susie,” Rob tries again, knocking on the door as if that might work this time. It isn’t locked, but Susie’s mastered the ability to keep it shut and they haven’t even tried it this time.

There’s no reply.

“We’re going to be late,” Claire mutters.

“Susie, we’re going to have to go,” Rob calls through the door. “Last chance to come out or we’re just going to go.”

There’s nothing from the other side of the door. Rob sighs and steps away from it, Claire doing the same.

“Right, we’ll see you later, Susie,” Rob says. He turns to the boys and gives them a small smile. “We won’t be long. Please try and make sure your sister has breakfast or something.”

The boys nod and Rob and Claire both hurry down the stairs. Valtteri waits for the door to shut downstairs before pushing himself off of the bed.

“Susie,” he calls. “They’re gone now.”

There is still nothing from their sister’s room. Felipe sighs and follows Valtteri to the door. He knocks quickly but doesn’t wait for an answer before trying the door. Surprisingly, it opens.

“Well,” he says, looking at the empty room. “That explains why she wasn’t answering.”

Felipe groans. They’ll almost definitely get into trouble about this.

“Three guesses where she is.”

 

Susie walks hand in hand with Toto, shivering against the cold. She’s already wearing his coat and can tell he’s cold, so she doesn’t say anything. Neither of them speak, walking through the frost coated park in silence. Toto knows there’s something wrong, but there is no point trying to get Susie to tell him. She will eventually, that’s why they’re here.

Susie sighs, dramatically, and pulls her hand away from Toto’s, marching on a little bit with her hands in the pockets of the coat. Toto hurries to catch up, awkwardly putting his arm around her in a loose hug.

“Have you heard about that kid from Torro Rosso?” she asks, ignoring the touch from her boyfriend. “Jean-Eric?”

“Hmmm, I think so,” Toto says. His own boys are enough to deal with, and he hasn’t really been listening to the gossip from the assessments.

“Mum and Rob think he might belong with us,” Susie says. “They’re bringing him back today.”

“And this is why you are here?” Toto asks.

“They only told us yesterday,” Susie says, bitterly. “Like we were an afterthought.”

“I am sure you are not an afterthought,” Toto says, pulling Susie closer to him. “Claire and Rob would have thought about you first.”

“If they had thought about us, they wouldn’t be bringing him here,” Susie says. “He doesn’t belong here.”

“You weren’t like this when they brought Felipe to come and live with you,” Toto points out.

“That’s because he belonged with us,” Susie says, “Jean-Eric doesn’t.”

“How do you know?”

“I thought you were on my side,” Susie says, pulling away from Toto.

“I am,” Toto says. “I am just saying, there is no need to get upset over something that might not happen. You might get on with him really well. Look at Valtteri and Felipe.”

Susie shakes her head. “There’s not enough room,” she says. “Mum and Rob can’t look after all of us. And then they’ll get rid of one of us.”

“Susie,” Toto sighs. “I am certain Claire and Rob are not going to get rid of any of you. You are worried about nothing.”

“But what if they do?”

“Then they are mad,” Toto says, pressing a kiss to Susie’s temple and pulling her back into a hug.

“Nope,” Susie says, pulling away from Toto again. “I am not sitting back and letting them get rid of us.”

“So… what are you going to do?” Toto says, slowly. Susie’s got that look in her eye, a twinkle that scares him a little.

“I don’t know,” Susie says. “But you are going to help me.”

 

Kimi shoves his hands into his jeans pockets, even though it’s too hot for jeans. Sebastian walks giddily at his side, skipping and hoping to keep up with Kimi. The older boy hasn’t said anything to the excited German yet. He doesn’t know what he can say. Sebastian seems overjoyed about everything. To be here in Italy. To be in Ferrari. To be brother’s with Kimi. Kimi cannot ruin that.

“Why are you here?” Kimi asks, pulling Sebastian to a slower pace and out of the way of the old couple he’s about to crash into.

“What do you mean?” Sebastian asks, confused.

“I thought you were… happy with your old family,” Kimi says.

“I was,” Sebastian says. “But then I wasn’t.”

He frowns. He doesn’t know what else there is to say. He was happy and now he’s not.

“But then Maurizio was talking to Britta and she says it might work here,” Sebastian continues. “I get on with you really well and she thinks it might work.” He looks up at Kimi, his grin falling when he notices his brother isn’t sharing his joy. “You do… _want_ me to be your brother, don’t you? I thought you would. I thought you would be happy.”

“Of course I do,” Kimi says. “But why didn’t you tell me?”

“It was a surprise!” Sebastian says, cheerfully. “A happy surprise?”

“Yeah,” Kimi says, ruffling Sebastian’s curly blonde hair. “Of course it’s a happy surprise. Come on, this way. I’ll show you where we get the best pizza.”

Sebastian grins and skips ahead a couple of steps, then stops to let Kimi catch up and walks alongside him.

The other people who work and live in the small, Italian town are used to the new family members strolling in and out of the Ferrari house, but they’re not used to seeing Kimi out, and the boys’ wander attracts the gaze of the people they pass. Sebastian being so chirpy and a complete contrast to his brother only adds to the confusion.

“Ferrari is different to the other families,” Kimi says.

“How?” Sebastian asks.

“It is complicated,” Kimi says. They settle down to one of the tables outside a restaurant. “Things are less about being a family here. It is about making you better.”

“Better how?”

“Better at controlling your powers,” Kimi says.

“But it’s family too,” Sebastian tries to say.

“Not really,” Kimi says. “Not as much. It is complicated, like I said. Anyway.” He takes the menu from the centre of the table and pushes it in Sebastian’s direction. He knows he’s chickening out, but he really doesn’t know what to say – what he _can_ say. “Let’s eat.”

 

Valtteri touches down gently behind Susie and Toto and grabs Susie’s shoulder, making both of them jump.

“Valtteri,” Susie snaps, spinning out of his grip. “What are you doing here?”

“Rob and Claire are going to freak out if you are not home when they get back,” Valtteri says. “They do not know you weren’t there when they left.”

“You see?” Susie snaps, turning to Toto. “They’re already too obsessed with Jean-Eric to notice me.”

“Susie,” Toto says. “He is only a child. You cannot…”

“I can do what I like, Toto,” Susie snaps before turning to her brother. “Are we going or what?”

Valtteri steps back a little, looking to Toto for help. He isn’t afraid to admit Susie scares him a little. After all, she _is_ scary.

“See you later,” Valtteri mumbles to Toto, before taking Susie’s hand and pulling her away.

 

_What if they don’t like me?_

“Of course they’ll like you,” Rob says, taking Jean-Eric’s hand when he climbs out of the car. “They’d be mad not too.”

Jean-Eric looks up at the house. It’s different from what he’s used to. Different to the orphanage for power possessors that the Red Bull family funds. Different from the quiet little house in the countryside which Torro Rosso owns. It just looks like an ordinary house, but it _feels_ different. He’s not sure if he likes it or not.

He’s still clutching Dan in one hand as Rob leads him up the garden path, following Claire.

“When I first came here it was raining,” Rob tells him. “I was nervous too. I was thinking the exact same thing as you. But it’s all fine. Claire still gets a bit moody at me sometimes, but that’s it.”

Claire rolls her eyes and opens the door.

“We’re back!”

There’s silence from the rest of the house. Rob doesn’t even notice, helping Jean-Eric take his coat off without letting go of Dan and hanging it up.

“Valtteri? Susie? Felipe?” Claire calls up the stairs.

Felipe comes quickly down the stairs and it’s immediately clear to Rob he’s hiding something. He looks between the adults, waiting for them to say something, before he spots Jean-Eric.

“Hello,” he says, with a small wave. Maybe he can distract them from the fact Susie and Valtteri aren’t back yet.

“Jean-Eric, this is Felipe,” Rob says. “Felipe, Jean-Eric.”

“Hello,” Felipe says again but Jean-Eric doesn’t answer. “Valtteri and I have moved most of my stuff into his room so you can stay in mine for the moment until Rob and Claire come up with something better. Do you want me to show you?”

Jean-Eric looks up at Rob, then to Felipe, then nods and lets go to of Rob’s hand to follow Felipe up the stairs.

“Wait a second,” Claire says. “Where are Valtteri and Susie?”

“Valtteri?” Felipe says slowly. “And Susie? Hmmm, you know, I don’t…”

“Felipe.”

“We’re here,” Valtteri says, coming in from the kitchen. “We were outside.”

“Jean-Eric, this is Valtteri,” Claire continues the introductions. “And this is Susie.”

“Moi,” Valtteri says.

Susie doesn’t say anything, her arms folded across her chest.

“Come on, Susie,” Claire says. “Don’t be like this.”

“Like what?” Susie snaps, marching past Felipe up the stairs. “You didn’t care about my opinion when you decided to bring him here. Why do you expect me to care about it now?”

_See?_

“It’ll be alright,” Rob tells the youngster. “She’s in that mood with everybody at the moment.”


	4. Know That Water's Sweet But Blood Is Thicker

“Of course it will look more like home when it has all your things in it,” Felipe finishes, sitting beside Jean-Eric on the bed. He looks the younger boy up and down, not sure what to say. Jean-Eric looks down at the teddy in his lap, stroking its fur. Felipe plucks the toy from the younger boy’s hands and looks at it curiously.

“What’s this?”

Jean-Eric launches at the toy and snatches it away from Felipe, staring at him with wide eyes. Felipe stares back, confused.

“Sorry,” he says. “Is it… important?”

“Dan,” Jean-Eric mumbles, holding the teddy close to him.

“Ah,” Felipe says, as if that makes more sense. “Can I see him?”

Jean-Eric shakes his head, holding Dan a little tighter and shuffling back on the bed.

“Alright,” Felipe says slowly, standing. “Well, do you want to come downstairs or should I leave you here?”

Jean-Eric doesn’t say anything. He’s gone back to looking down at the teddy and running his fingers through the soft fur. Felipe rolls his eyes.

“We will all be downstairs if you need us,” he says. “Except Susie. But I would not bother her if I was you.”

 

“There’s an assessment this weekend,” Valtteri says, as if Rob doesn’t know this.

“Yes,” Rob says. He’s sorting through Jean-Eric’s clothes, not sure if he should just put everything in the wash and get rid of the old smell that the child will associate with home.

“Well, will he be ready by then?” Valtteri asks.

Rob snorts. “Ready? What do you mean ready?” He turns to Valtteri, trying to figure out what he’s feeling, but the Finn is blank. Valtteri learned faster than Felipe how to hide how he’s feeling from Rob. Even Rob’s not quite sure how he’s managed it, but he has a feeling it’s something to do with his powers. “Valtteri, is something wrong?”

“No,” Valtteri says, a little too quickly.

“You are… ok with Jean-Eric staying here, aren’t you?”

Valtteri shrugs. “Like Susie said, it does not really matter what we think.”

“Of course it matters,” Rob says, putting the bag of clothes down and sitting opposite Valtteri.

“So if we all said we did not want Jean-Eric here, you would make him leave?” Valtteri asks.

“Well, we want you to give it a try first,” Rob says with a small laugh. Valtteri doesn’t laugh.

“See.”

“If I remember correctly, you weren’t too thrilled about Felipe coming when he first showed up,” Rob says. “And he didn’t want to be here either. Now look at the pair of you.”

Valtteri sighs. Of course he’ll say that. Claire will probably say that too. Just because it worked once, doesn’t mean it’s going to work again, though.

“Look,” Rob says. “Give it a couple of weeks. Then, if none of you feel like Jean-Eric belongs here, Claire and I will start looking for another family where he does fit.”

Valtteri rolls his eyes and pushes himself away from the table, standing. “We knew this was what you would say.”

“We?” Rob asks.

“Me and Felipe and Susie,” Valtteri says. “Thought you would be able to tell we were not happy.”

“Susie’s not happy about anything,” Rob laughs. “You wait, it will be fine.”

Valtteri nods, but he wasn’t really listening, then mutters something about studying and disappears again.

 

When Sebastian walks beside Kimi, he bobs, bouncing beside him as he walks. He looks so cheerful, much happier than Kimi’s seen him in a long time. He can’t let the Ferrari lot ruin that.

“You are sure you want to be here?” Kimi asks as he walks with Sebastian back to the house on the outskirts of the town.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I?” Sebastian says, confused. He looks up at Kimi and skips ahead of him, walking ahead backwards. “It is my family?”

“ _I’m_ your family,” Kimi corrects him. “And that Britta, maybe, but…”

“What do you mean?” Sebastian asks, jumping about when he almost trips over his own feet.

“It’s… complicated,” Kimi says. “You just be careful, yes?”

“Of what?” Sebastian asks.

Kimi sighs. “Nothing. Nothing in particular.”

Sebastian rolls his eyes and stops bouncing do he can walk beside Kimi.

“But don’t… do not say anything to Maurizio, alright,” Kimi says.

“Why not?” Sebastian asks, curiously.

“Because.”

“Why not?” Sebastian asks again, grumpier this time. He stops walking and Kimi spins around, smirking at the pout on Sebastian’s face.

“Because I said so,” Kimi says. “Are you coming, or do you want me to leave you here?”

“Fine,” Sebastian says, marching on with the same pout on his face. “But I’m not some _baby_. You don’t have to treat me like one.”

“Of course not,” Kimi says, smirk still on his face. “Come on then.”

 

Rob and Claire are making a mess of dishing dinner up when the thumping of feet on the stairs reaches their ears and Claire darts out of the kitchen, taking the jug of gravy she was holding with her. Susie’s in the front hall, putting on her coat and hat.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Claire asks.

“Out.”

Valtteri, Felipe, and Rob peer into the hallway, watching Claire stand in front of the door and Susie fail over dramatically.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Claire says. “We’re having dinner as a family.”

“I’ve already said I’m going to Toto’s for dinner,” Susie says, ignoring the sniggering from her brothers. She takes another step towards the door but Claire stops her with a hand on her shoulder.

“We’re having dinner as a family.”

“Family?” Susie snorts. “No.”

“Susie, come and have dinner with us,” Rob says, joining Claire in the hallway. “It’s one meal. You can manage that, can’t you?”

“Should we go and help her?” Valtteri murmurs, watching as Susie argues with the two adults. There’s lots of hand waving from Rob and Claire has one hand on her hips, the other holding the jug of gravy like a weapon.

Felipe doesn’t say anything, peering out into the corridor too.

Jean-Eric watches the boys from the table, waiting for dinner. Before Susie came down the stairs, his legs had been swinging, but they’ve stopped now. Under the table, Dan sits on his lap, wrapped in Jean-Eric’s fingers with the odd bit of fur sticking out between them.

“Just let her go,” Valtteri jumps in, standing between Rob and Susie. “It is just dinner. I am sure she wants to go to her friend’s more than we want her here.”

“Of course we want you here,” Claire says. “Come on, don’t be stupid Susie.”

“I’m not an idiot,” Susie snaps, pushing past Claire and out of the door, slamming the door shut.

Rob sighs and goes back into the main room. “You’re going to have to get used to the door slamming,” he says with a forced smile.

Felipe rolls his eyes and, mumbling something about washing his hands, goes upstairs, taking Valtteri with him.

Rob sits beside Jean-Eric, whilst Claire returns to the kitchen to finish dishing up the dinner. Rob’s doing his best to convince the youngster his smile isn’t forced, but it doesn’t look like it’s working. “Things will get better,” he says, gently.

_They hate me, don’t they?_

“No,” Rob laughs. “Of course not. Susie’s just hit that phase where she hates us all.”

_And Felipe and Valtteri?_

“They’ve just gone to wash their hands for dinner,” Rob says. “How come you don’t, you know, speak?”

_Only people I want to hear can hear me like this._

Rob nods slowly, not sure if he understands that or not. Claire hurries past them into the hall to collect the jug she left there, then back into the kitchen, muttering to herself about gravy. Jean-Eric watches her go through, setting Dan on the table.

_Maybe I should wash my hands?_

“Yeah, maybe. Do you want me to watch Dan for you?” Rob asks.

Jean-Eric looks between the stuffed toy and Rob, then nods. When Rob smiles at him this time, he smiles back, then disappears up the stairs to wash his hands.

 

“Do not understand why they are so bothered about it anyway,” Valtteri says. “Susie never eats here anymore. Why they thought she was going to today, I do not know.”

Felipe shrugs, drying his hands. “They want to make things special for the new kid.”

“You didn’t even want dinner when you came,” Valtteri points out, mimicking Rob.

“I think we can safely say Jean-Eric is not me,” Felipe says. “Think he is making much more of a commotion than I did.”

Valtteri laughs, a sounds Claire would be smiling at if she was listening. “Since when did you say words like commotion?”

“Since now,” Felipe says. “Problem?”

Valtteri’s about to answer when a quiet _excuse me_ pops into his head and he spins around to find Jean-Eric stood, waiting to wash his hands with his sleeves rolled up past his elbows. The Finn steps to the side to let the younger boy get to the sink, going over to dry his hands.

“What did you just do?” Valtteri asks, confused a little. He’s already had to learn how to stop Rob getting into his head. The last thing he needs is another power possessor in there.

_You can hear me but I can’t hear you. Not like this._

“What’s the matter?” Felipe asks.

“Reads thoughts,” Valtteri says.

_No. No, you read mine but I can’t read yours. I’m sorry._

“Sorry?”

Jean-Eric nods, pulling his hands out from under the taps and coming over to dry them. Both boys step away from the towel to let the younger one through. Both notice the tears in his eyes, but neither of them say anything.

“Should get back downstairs,” Felipe says, quietly. “Claire will only start moaning if we do not.”

“Is easy to see where Susie gets it from,” Valtteri adds, following his brother downstairs and leaving Jean-Eric alone.


	5. Feeling My Way Through The Darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from Wake Me Up - Avicii again

“She’ll be fine,” Rob says.

It’s late, very late, and Claire is beginning to worry. Jean-Eric’s was put to bed hours ago and even Valtteri and Felipe have turned in for the night.

Susie still isn’t back.

“You can’t know that, Rob,” Claire whispers. She’s sat at the window, watching the street outside. It’s pitch black outside and raining again, so she can barely see anything through the droplets that dot the glass, but she looks out anyway. The street is empty. “I should have known something like this was going to happen.”

“Come on, we knew when we told them that they probably weren’t going to react positively, didn’t we,” Rob says, putting an arm around Claire. “Susie’ll be back. She’ll just be trying to punish us for _not getting her_.”

“Oh yes, I forgot you were Rob Smedley, teenage girls expert,” Claire snaps. No matter how hard she tries to keep her voice steady, it doesn’t work. Her eyes flick up to Rob, watching her, then back out the window.

“I know Susie,” Rob says, gently, too used to Claire to be put off by her snapping. “And so do you.”

“I’m not sure I do know her anymore,” Claire says, stepping away from the window, and Rob, with her arms folded. She shakes her head at Rob, struggling to find the words she wants. Susie has changed so much, and Claire doesn’t’ understand how. It was as if she’d been abducted by aliens, it had happened so quickly. Their happy and overexcited little girl had been swapped with a stroppy, angry teenager.

“She’s still our little girl,” Rob says, his hands resting on Claire’s shoulders. “She’s still who she’s always been. She’s just having a hard time expressing that right now.”

Claire sighs, annoyed at Rob more than anything for being gentle with her. She can cope with him when they’re arguing, but not whilst he’s like this. She wipes her eyes on the back of her hand and makes to go back to the window when the front door slams shut and there are footsteps on the stairs.

“Susie, you get down here right now,” Claire snaps, marching into the hall.

Susie stops halfway up the stairs and glares down at Claire. “What?”

“Where have you been?”

“I told you I was going to Toto’s,” Susie says as if Claire’s an idiot.

“All this time?” Claire asks, standing at the bottom of the stairs. She’s not shouting, but only because she hopes Jean-Eric is asleep and she doesn’t want to wake him up.

Susie hesitates a moment before replying. “Yes.”

“Where have you been, Susie?” Claire asks again.

“Why do you care?”

“Susie.”

“I went to see granddad, ok?” Susie snaps. “I got Lewis to take me after we had dinner. I didn’t mean to stay so long, but I didn’t think you would notice anyway.”

Claire’s mouth snaps shut. Her dad has been in hospital for a couple of weeks now. It isn’t over anything serious or anything that they need to stop their lives for, and they’ve been to see him a couple of times, but it’s a bit of a distance to travel, so it hasn’t been often. Not as often as Claire would like.

Or as often as Susie would like, either, apparently.

“Susie,” Claire says, gently.

“I’m going to bed,” Susie snaps, marching up the rest of the stairs.

Claire sighs and watches Susie disappear up the stairs. There’s a couple of moments silence once she’s up there, then her bedroom door slams shut. Claire cringes.

“See,” Rob says. “Perfectly fine.”

He holds his arms out for a hug, but Claire ignores him, pushing past him into the kitchen. “Tea?”

“Sure,” Rob says. “I’m just going to check on the boys.”

 

_I do not think I will be here long Dan._

Jean-Eric sits under the covers with his flashlight on, trying to read but unable to concentrate to the task. Dan sits beside him, the toy’s button eyes shining when they catch in the light. Jean-Eric shivers under the toy’s glassy eyed gaze and runs his free hand through its fur again, looking for comfort.

Things are strange here. Different. The silence here is a little unsettling. Jean-Eric has never been in a place so quiet. Even at night there’s always been a noise of some kind, a brother snoring or crying because he misses whichever place he calls home. Jean-Eric’s never been like them, and to be in a place as quiet as he is and it scares him. He might be able to get used to it, but he doesn’t want to.

_I do not belong here._

_No, Dan. I know I do not belong here because you are not here._

Somewhere else in the house, someone slams a door shut and, even though Jean-Eric’s own door is closed, the noise still crashes into his mind and makes him jump, dropping the flashlight and the book. The flashlight bounces off of the bed and lands on the floor with a clatter, switching off and plunging Jean-Eric into darkness again.

_Cannot do anything right._

Taking Dan with him, Jean-Eric pushes himself out of bed to reclaim the flashlight. He’s scrambling about on the floor, pretty sure the light has gone under the bed, when the bedroom door opens.

Rob frowns at the empty bed, then spots Jean-Eric on the floor, looking very much like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

“What are you doing up then?” Rob asks with a grin, flicking on the light so he can see what he’s doing.

Instead of grinning back, Jean-Eric bursts into tears so suddenly it makes Rob jump. The boy’s thoughts are an incoherent mess of noise and Rob darts across the room to try to help, pulling Jean-Eric onto his lap and staring at him in confusion.

“What’s the matter? Are you hurt?”

_I was just reading. I did not mean to be out of bed. I’m sorry._

“Hey, you’re not in trouble,” Rob says. “Calm down.”

Jean-Eric’s still shaking, sobbing quietly into his hands. Rob sits with him, no idea what he should do now.

Crying children aren’t his specialty anymore.

“It’s ok,” he says again.

_I am sorry._

“You’ve nothing to be sorry for,” Rob laughs, moving so he could put the child back into bed. “What’s the matter then? Couldn’t sleep?”

Jean-Eric shakes his head.

_I like to read before bed._

“You’ve been in bed hours,” Rob says, slowly.

_It is a hard book._

“Do you want me to read to you?”

Jean-Eric’s eyes widen.

_Would you?_

“Sure,” Rob says, grinning at the look on the young boys face. “Budge over a bit so I can sit down properly.”

 

“I do not believe you brushed your teeth that fast,” Britta says, looking down at the grinning child.

Bed time has always been a struggle with Sebastian. He’s usually too excited to sleep, and it doesn’t look like today’s going to be any different. But he’s all wrapped up in the new bedding now, nodding that he had brushed his teeth.

“Yeah,” he says. “I just did it really quickly.”

“Let me smell.”

Sebastian lets her smell his breath and it does seem like he has brushed his teeth. Britta frowns, unconvinced that she was going to be able to get an early night’s sleep for once. Seeing nothing to keep her in the room, she goes to leave, but Sebastian stops her before she can turn out the light.

“Britta?” he says, slowly.

“Yes, Sebastian?” Britta says, spinning around

Sebastian’s grin has fallen and he looks away from Britta once he has her attention. He knows Kimi told him not to tell Maurizio, and he’s not going to. He’s strange and even though he’s trying to be welcoming, Sebastian still doesn’t think he seems… _right._ Britta says he’ll get used to him, but he isn’t so sure. So he isn’t going to tell Maurizio, but he’s sure he can tell Britta.

He tells Britta everything.

“Kimi said some things, but I didn’t understand them,” Sebastian says.

“Hmm?” Britta says, coming to sit beside Sebastian. “What kind of things? I’ll see if I can explain.”

“He said…” Sebastian struggles to remember. It’s been a busy, exciting day, for him at least. They’d gone out for dinner and Sebastian had insisted on trying lots of different kinds of food that, it turns out, he doesn’t really like. “He said that I should be careful.”

“What of?” Britta asks, laughing.

“I’m not sure,” Sebastian says slowly. “That’s what I don’t understand.”

“He’s probably just being overcautious, Sebbie,” Britta says, gently. “You know he hasn’t really had a brother before. Not a proper one.”

Sebastian nods. Kimi has told him that much already. Sebastian’s had lots of different brothers – they haven’t always gotten on with each other, but they’ve felt like brothers – but Kimi has never had that.

“He’s just trying to look after you, don’t worry about it,” Britta says, gently kissing the top of his head. “Now, are you going to go to sleep tonight?”

“Yep!” Sebastian says, grinning. The look on his face says that might be a lie.


	6. Guided By A Beating Heart

“I don’t think his non-phys is that bad,” Rob tells Andrew. It’s too late before the assessment to get Jean-Eric his own tutor and Andrew has volunteered to go through the basics with the child before the assessment tomorrow.

“What do you mean?” Claire asks.

“He’s doing brilliantly with his non-phys,” Rob says. “He chats away with me all the time.”

Claire shakes her head, still confused. “I don’t think he’s ever said a word to me.”

“Really?”

Rob spent most of the night before sitting with Jean-Eric and listening to him tell stories. He reminds Rob a lot of Susie before the teenager in her kicked in.

Rob shrugs. “Selective.”

“Alright,” Andrew says. “Anything you want me to go over?”

“We just need a lesson to say we’ve done one, for the assessments,” Claire says, still a little annoyed that Jean-Eric is talking to Rob and not her. All the kids prefer Rob, even Susie. She’s the boring parent that makes them eat their vegetables and do their homework. Rob’s the ‘fun’ one.

“You chose an awkward time,” Andrew agrees. Usually families adopt a power possessor at least a few weeks before the nearest assessment, giving time to get to know the child’s powers and them before they can be assessed.

“There was no way Torro Rosso were taking him to another assessment,” Claire says quietly. “That’s why we had to go for sooner rather than later.”

Andrew holds his hands up in defence. “It’s your family, you can do what you like and I won’t judge. Now, I just want to go through some last minute things with Felipe, then I’ll see what I can do with… Jean-Eric, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Claire says.

“Didn’t they call him Jev when he was staying with Torro Rosso?” Andrew asks.

The nickname sounds familiar to Rob, but Claire shakes her head. “If he wants us to use the nickname, he’ll tell us.”

“Alright then,” Andrew says, sharing confused looks with Rob. “I’ll go and get started then.”

Rob watches him go before moving over on the sofa to sit a little closer to Claire. She glares at him when he does and Rob begins the mental preparations for another argument.

“There’s no need to be so short with him,” Rob says. “He’s doing his job.”

“He’s not part of this family,” Claire hisses. “He has no idea what he’s talking about.”

“They know a lot more than you’d like to think,” Rob says. “I was one of them, remember? And it is a bloody hard job. You feel like part of the family but you always know you’re not. You always know they could fire you at any moment and it is not easy.”

“It’s different with you. You had a family connection.”

“Tutors do talk, Claire,” Rob says. “I wasn’t the only one who felt like that.” He takes a deep breath, supressing the urge to start a rant. “All I am saying is that you do not have to treat Andrew so harshly.”

Claire’s silent, her mouth a slim line and her eyes dark. She’s still annoyed, but she doesn’t want the argument to go down this path. Rob searches her thoughts but it’s just loud and angry, unsurprisingly. It doesn’t give him any clues as to where he should take the argument to keep Claire happy, so he backtracks until he finds what she’s upset about.

“Is this because Jean-Eric has been talking to me?” he asks.

Claire glares at him. “You think you’re special, don’t you? Just because the kids go to you with their problems and not me. Even _Susie_ talks to you sometimes. I have been there since the day she was born and she still prefers you.”

“Claire,” Rob says, gently, but he doesn’t know what to say now. He can’t deny it. He knows as well as Claire does that she’s telling the truth. “We play different roles. It doesn’t matter if they come to you or me, because we work out their problems together. The point is that you care.”

“But they don’t think I do,” Claire says.

“Of course they do,” Rob says. “Look, I don’t know why they come to me not you. They probably don’t want to come to either of us, but they know I know how they feel, so they may as well admit it.” He shrugs, trying to act like it’s no big deal, but he takes pride in the fact that the boys come and talk to him and Susie is a little less cold with him than Claire.

“I just… I just want them to know I care,” Claire says.

“They know,” Rob says. “Do you think… we should go and see your dad after the assessment? You know he’s going to be gutted that he’s missed it.”

Claire sighs and falls away from Rob when he tries to hug her, her arms folded like usual. She nods though. It’s probably a good idea, as much as he hates to admit it.

“Yeah,” she says, quietly. “If we get the bus to the assessment, we can get the train to the hospital.”

Rob snorts. “Can you imagine our lot on the bus,” he says.

“Don’t,” Claire warns, rubbing her forehead.

“This is going to be fun.”

 

“There’s something about that teddy,” Felipe says to Susie, sat in Valtteri’s room. The Finn is having to brave the weather to try and get his flying a little better. It isn’t Valtteri Felipe feels sorry for, but Jonathan, who’s stood in the rain trying to control Valtteri.

“What teddy?” Susie asks, watching the closed door on the other end of the hall. It isn’t very often she allows herself to be with her brothers anymore, but this was too important.

“He has a teddy,” Felipe says. “I don’t know what it is. Some badger or skunk or something. And he never lets it go. I took it from him yesterday and he snatched it from me, would not even let me look at it.”

“I haven’t seen it,” Susie mutters. She wants her brothers’ help, but she doesn’t want them to be doing too much. She can do things by herself and she isn’t going to let them think otherwise.

“You have not really been looking,” Felipe points out.

“Fine,” Susie snaps, folding her arms. She takes her eyes off of the door for a second to glare at Felipe then her eyes flick back. “What do you propose we do?”

“ _I_ do not know,” Felipe says. “Thought you were the brains.”

Susie sighs and stands. “I’ll figure something out. Watch this space.”

“Watch this space,” Felipe mimics, sniggering.

Susie shoots him another glare before marching into her own room. Felipe counts with his eyes closed the seconds until the door slams shut again.

 

It’s late when Kimi gets up, of course. Food is the only reason he pulled himself out of bed in the first place, and he pulls himself through to the kitchen in the back of the house, not really awake enough to be aware of his surroundings. Britta’s already in the kitchen, flicking through a magazine with a coffee in hand. She looks up when he shuffles to the fridge to see what there is to eat.

“Good afternoon,” she says. It’s not cheerful, which Kimi is thankful for. “The kettle hasn’t long boiled, if you are looking for coffee.”

Kimi squints at the kettle, then decides to follow the unspoken advice and makes himself coffee. He doesn’t care for snobby Italian food and pours himself a bowl of cereal and takes a bread roll before sitting.

“Where’s Seb?” he grunts once he considers himself awake enough.

“Maurizio took him out,” Britta says. She pushes the magazine away and puts her coffee down, peering at Kimi. “Seb said some things last night. Said that you told him he needs to be careful.”

“He does,” Kimi says. Of course Sebastian had told Britta. He doesn’t know why he’s surprised about this. Next time he says anything he’s going to have to be a lot clearer in his instructions.

“Kimi, look,” Britta says. She tries to catch the Finn’s eye but he’s focused on his food. “I know Sebastian’s your brother. I know you are close to him. And it’s understandable that you want to protect him. But Seb will panic about things like that. He’s still scared of monsters hiding outside at night. So, if you tell him he needs to be careful, he’ll start to panic about what he needs to be careful about.”

Kimi says nothing, chewing his cereal slowly. When he’s finished, he pushes the bowl towards the dish washer and stands.

“Maybe he should,” Kiimi says.

“Should what?” Britta asks, confused.

“Be scared of the monsters outside,” Kimi says, leaving Britta alone in the kitchen so he can go and get dressed. He needs to go and find Sebastian. Whatever he’s doing with Maurizio, it isn’t going to be good and it needs to be stopped.

Once dressed, he returns to the kitchen, where Britta is still sitting, the magazine forgotten and the tea cold.

“Kimi, what did you mean?”

“It does not matter,” Kimi says. “Do you know where Maurizio took Seb?”

Britta frowns and looks at Kimi as if he’s gone mad, then shook her head. “He just told Sebastian he was going to show him some of the sites you wouldn’t have. I don’t know where he means.”

Kimi rolls his eyes and spins around to head out of the house. He’s pretty sure he can guess where they are. He thought he would have more time than this, time to get Seb away from this place or at least figure out what is really going on. Years of not actually caring have come back to haunt him. He has had all the time in the world when he chose not to do anything.

“Kimi wait,” Britta calls, following him into the front living area. “Where are you going?”

“To find Sebastian,” Kimi says.

“Don’t you think it would be a good idea to let Seb and Maurizio spend some time together?” Britta says. “I know Seb is still looking for that family connection with him. And maybe we can spend some time together too? Just the two of us?”

Kimi looks up at her, trying to figure out if this is a trick or not. He’s fairly sure Britta has no idea what’s really going on at Ferrari, she wouldn’t be treating him like this if she did, but he’s still suspicious.

“No,” he says in answer to all Britta’s questions, leaving the house as quickly as possible.

There’s a building on a hill that overlooks the small town which Kimi knows the Ferrari family own. He has no idea what goes on in there, other than the fact it isn’t very good. He’s never been taken inside. The family have other uses for him, but he’s almost certain that’s where Sebastian and Maurizio are.

He’s not sure what he’ll do when he gets there, but Kimi is pretty good at thinking on his feet, he reasons to himself as he makes his way up the hill. And besides, if the idiots from Williams could do it, he could to. What happens after this, Kimi doesn’t know. He can’t take Sebastian home. They can’t stay with Ferrari if this is going to happen, but he can’t very well run away with nothing. He hasn’t brought anything with him. He hasn’t thought this through at all.

Maybe thinking on his feet wasn’t such a good idea.

One knock on effect from the Williams children’s visit was that security at the building is noticeably higher. Even without ever climbing the hill, Kimi’s been able to see that. There are more guards in the town and a fence has been erected around the building. Not tall, but it’s meant to keep any teleporters out.

That shouldn’t be too much of a problem, Kimi thinks once he’s at the top of the hill. It should be easy enough to climb.

It isn’t, and he falls with a thud and crunch on the other side of the fence. There are a couple of guards looking at him funny but none of them have come over yet. Kimi’s fairly sure they know who he is, but he still isn’t supposed to be here and they shouldn’t just be watching him limp over to the door.

As he reaches it, Maurizio and Seb emerge. Seb’s chatting away in a not so perfect Italian, bubbly as always. He doesn’t seem hurt at all, but Kimi knows better than to trust that.

“Kimi!” Sebastian cries mid-sentence. “What are you doing here?”

“Came to find you, didn’t I?” Kimi says. He doesn’t let Sebastian see the glare he gives Maurizio. Maurizio just smiles patiently in return.


	7. I Don't Know Where The Journey Will End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the jumpiness of this chapter.

When Claire comes down the stairs for dinner, she’s surprised to find Susie at the table, waiting. She sits beside Valtteri, talking about the assessments and Clare’s so shocked she almost falls into her chair. Felipe just rolls his eyes and continues to call into Rob in Italian, which Claire has asked him to stop doing but she doesn’t even care today.

Once dinner is served, a silence settles as everyone’s attention turns to their food. Claire wants to start a conversation – wants Susie to start talking to her again like she did before – but she has no idea what to talk about. Susie’s watching Jean-Eric from across the table now, waiting for him to speak or do something, but he hasn’t said a word since Susie came in. He hasn’t said a word full stop, but he hasn’t even looked up from his food at all.

The silence is making them all feel awkward, and Rob knows he’s going to have to say something at some point or Susie isn’t going to come and have dinner with them for a long time. He glances over the table at Claire, but there is only a blue buzz of thoughts coming from the table at it’s clear she had as much of an idea as to what to do as Rob does.

“We were thinking,” he says slowly, putting his knife and fork down and holding his hands together. “After the assessment tomorrow we should all go and see Frank.”

Susie’s eyes flick from Jean-Eric to Rob and, for once, she isn’t glaring at him. There’s genuine surprise on her face and, at first, she doesn’t know what to say. They’ve listened to her. For the first time in she doesn’t know how long, they’ve actually _listened_ to her. She looks between Rob and Claire, the grin she’s trying to hide becoming wider and wider on her face.

“Really?” she asks.

Claire looks relived, though Rob doesn’t know what for. Of course Susie was going to like this.

She nods. “Rob and I thought we’d all get the bus to the assessment so we can get the train from there straight to the hospital,” she says. “You were right, Susie. It’s been too long since we all went to see him.”

Susie beams, apparently unable to keep her happiness from showing. Claire doesn’t think she’s seen her daughter this happy in a long time and Felipe and Valtteri are both grinning down at their plates too. It looks to Claire as if they’ve finally done something right.

Jean-Eric watches them all, not sure why they’re all happy all of a sudden, but he can’t see how this can be a bad thing.

 

“I’m worried about Kimi,” Britta says, quietly. She’s helping Maurizio in the kitchen, but she keeps glancing back at the boys, who are watching some kid’s film Sebastian wanted to watch.

“Why’s that?” Maurizio asks. He hasn’t looked up from where he’s chopping vegetables and doesn’t see Britta’s nervous glance in the boys’ direction. “He doesn’t speak to anybody, you know. It is not just you.”

“He was telling Sebastian to be careful,” Britta says. She’s trying to keep her voice down so the boys can’t hear her, but she’s pretty sure they’re both too engrossed in the film to be listening anyway. Better to be safe than sorry. She knows Kimi’s having a tough time at the moment and doesn’t want him to think she’s against him as well. “And then I asked him about it this morning and he said… he said Seb should be scared of the monsters outside.”

It doesn’t make any sense to Britta. None of it did. She had thought Sebastian had gotten on well with his last brother, Dan, and Christian. Whilst she knew Kimi and Sebastian got on well – everybody knew that – she hadn’t thought the child would be thinking about going anywhere else. She’s pretty sure it was Maurizio who suggested to Sebastian that he did not belong in the Red Bull family, and it’s Maurizio she’s worried about now. Sebastian and Kimi fit together. She even feel like she’s making progress with the cold as ice teenager. But Maurizio seems like a spare part.

“Kimi is just paranoid,” Maurizio says. “Do not worry about it.”

“He’s worrying Seb,” Britta says. “I still don’t think we should have sprung this onto him as a surprise.”

“He will settle down eventually,” Maurizio says. “They are happy, aren’t they? Where is the problem?”

He grins at her, and it’s supposed to be settling, but it isn’t. Britta just nods and goes back to the preparation. She’s still glancing back at the boys. They were happy. What was the problem?

 

There is one flaw in Claire and Rob’s plan to get the bus to the assessment. It requires getting up early and, it turns out, this is lot more difficult in practice. Getting everyone up and ready to catch the bus in time is a struggle, Claire finds. Teenagers apparently do not enjoy getting up early, not matter what it’s for, and the three of them are the cause for the family to be running for the bus so they’re not late. Or Rob runs, whilst the others dawdle along and catch up.

Jean-Eric is holding Dan tightly in one hand, Claire’s hand in the other. Susie and Felipe walk behind them, watching the stuffed toy swing in Jean-Eric’s grip. Neither of them will speak to each other, knowing Claire will be able to hear every word they say. They’ve already gone through their small plan enough times for Susie to be sure Felipe knows it. She’s not worried about that.

“Come on slow coaches or he’s going to go,” Rob calls, grinning. Jean-Eric lets go of Claire’s hand to skip ahead and catch Rob. By the time the others are on the bus, he’s sat comfortably on the back seat.

Surprisingly enough to Rob and Claire, Susie bounces down the aisle of the bus like she would when Rob had first met her, and into the seat beside Jean-Eric.

Getting him to let go of Dan is going to be the hard part. Felipe doesn’t think he’s ever seen the teddy be forgotten. But Susie’s already thought about that too.

“Are you a little nervous?” she asks, as Felipe falls into the seat on Jean-Eric’s other side.

Jean-Eric stares at Susie for a while. It’s the first time she’s spoken to him and he’s too shocked for the words to even process in his mind. Susie laughs, gently, putting her arm around her little brother. Even more shocked, Jean-Eric nods. He’s nervous. He’s been to assessments before but he doesn’t think he’s ever been this nervous. He needs to show them he belongs with them, or they aren’t going to want him to stay with them. He isn’t going to belong. Of course he’s nervous.

“Felipe can help with that,” she says. “He calms people down. Show him, Felipe.”

Felipe frowns, not sure what Susie is up to, but he gently loops his hand around one of Jean-Eric’s wrists and focuses on calming Jean-Eric down. This isn’t a part of the plan he’s been told about, but he’s pretty sure Susie knows what she’s doing and follows her orders anyway.

“Looks like you might want to do both hands, Felipe,” Susie says. “Don’t worry. You can put the toy down there, between us. It’ll be safe there.”

Jean-Eric doesn’t look so sure about that.

“It’s ok to be nervous,” Susie says. “I was really scared before my first assessment, even though I’d been practicing longer than I was supposed to be. But don’t tell anyone.”

From the seat in front of them, Claire and Rob are listening. For a moment, it sounds like they’ve gotten the old Susie back. Claire isn’t really sure if she trusts that, but it has her smiling anyway.

Jean-Eric places Dan carefully in the spot between himself and Susie, then lets Felipe take his other wrist. Felipe and Susie both know there’s no more advantage taking two wrists over one, but Jean-Eric doesn’t need to know that.

 

Kimi has experienced an excited Sebastian a few times. On assessment days, the only days they’ve really spent that much time together before now, the younger boy is always practically bouncing off of the walls. Apparently, the excitement doesn’t start with reaching the field in which the assessments are held. No, that excitement starts at exactly half past six in the morning. Or maybe earlier, but that’s the time at which Sebastian launches himself at a previously sleeping Kimi.

“Wake up!” Sebastian cries, pulling the covers away from Kimi when he tries to hide under them. “If you don’t get up soon we’re going to miss the assessment.”

“It’s half six in the morning,” Kimi groans.

“Yes?”

“The assessment does not start until eleven,” Kimi says.

“Yes?”

“You know we teleport there, don’t you?” Kimi said. “We don’t have to leave until ten to,” Kimi says.

“Oh,” Sebastian says, suddenly realising why everyone is still asleep. Nobody had told him that. It doesn’t matter, though, and he goes back to waking Kimi up in a few seconds. “Never mind! Come on, let’s get up! You can make pancakes, can’t you?”

“Why would I make pancakes and half six in the morning?” Kimi asks.

“It’s not half six, it’s twenty five to seven,” Sebastian said, matter of factly, before he started pulling on Kimi’s arm. “Please. _Please, please, please, please_ -.”

“Fine,” Kimi snaps, sitting up and almost throwing Sebastian off of the bed. “You know you’re a spoilt brat, don’t you?”

“Yep,” Sebastian says, giggling as he climbs off the bed and pulls Kimi out too.

 

By the time the bus comes to their stop, Jean-Eric is feeling the calmest he’s ever felt. He follows Susie off, holding her hand with one hand and Felipe’s in the other. The three of them are giggling, and the sound has Claire and Rob smiling too. Valtteri isn’t so sure. He doesn’t know about the plan, but he knows Susie isn’t up to any good.

The three of them are leading the way with Valtteri following close behind when Jean-Eric stops down. He looks down at his hands, then between Felipe and Susie.

There’s something wrong.

Letting go of Felipe and Susie’s hands, he spins around to face Rob and Claire. The distress is clear on his face and Rob doesn’t need to be able to see his thoughts to see this.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, quickly.

“Dan,” Jean-Eric replies.

His hands are empty. Dan is gone.

With his back to Claire and Rob, Valtteri rolls his eyes. Susie smirks him. Rob’s eyes flick between Felipe and Susie, but he can’t find nothing from them. Just noise.

“Well where is he then?” Rob asks, crouching down besides Jean-Eric and holding his empty hands. Jean-Eric pulls them away to wipe his eyes.

 _Don’t know_.

“It is just a toy,” Felipe says. “Come on, we are going to be late.”

“Did you leave him on the bus?” Rob asks.

Jean-Eric nods. It’s the only place he can think of.

“Alright,” Rob says, standing. He turns back to Claire. “You take the kids and get them registered. I’ll go to the bus depot and look in lost and found.”

“You can’t go,” Valtteri says.

“I won’t be long,” Rob says, even though he knows it’s a half hour journey there. “I’ll go and get Dan.”

Susie sighs overdramatically, back to her usual self in an instant. It’s only a short walk to the assessment and she mutters something about going to find Toto before Claire can stop her.

So much for things getting back to normal.


	8. But I Know Where It Starts

For the past hour, Christian has been listening to the two Red Bull children poke each other and say the other’s name. He’s pretty sure if he hears the name Dan again, he’s going to go insane.

“Dan,” he calls, and both boys look up at him, expectantly, but he has nothing else to say. He just wants quiet for five minutes. The younger boy has his fingers up his nose, his mind wandering to the place five year old boys’ minds wander. The older has a tatty toy wolf sat on his lap, as always, and has just enough control over his own mind to pay attention. How Christian had landed two babies, he didn’t know.

Out of the corner of his eye he spots another family making their way from the registration centre. Susie’s marching across the field towards the Mercedes gazebo, Felipe calling after her. Jean-Eric is holding Claire’s hand tightly, but Christian can’t see from the Red Bull gazebo the tears running down his face.

“Jev’s over there,” Christian says. “Why don’t you go and say hello?”

The older Dan’s head shoots up and he spins around. His eyes actually light up when he sees his friend.

“Can I go and see him?”

“ _Yes_ ,” Christian says, glad to get one of the Dans out of his hair for five seconds.

Dan jumps out of the chair and races over to greet Jean-Eric.

 

One of the few good things about the assessments is that Claire and Rob no longer expect the children to stick around for the three hours or so that it takes for everybody to be assessed. Susie escapes from her family before Claire has even finished registering, Jean-Eric’s stuffed toy safely hidden away in her bag.

Felipe tries half-heartedly to try to get her to come back, but he doesn’t blame her in the slightest for running off.

“Did you take Dan from Jean-Eric?” Valtteri asks as soon as they’re out of Claire’s ear shot.

“No,” Felipe says, honestly, watching Toto greet Susie. It is the truth, if Valtteri wants to get technical about it.

“Did _Susie_ take Dan from Jean-Eric?” Valtteri asks.

“No,” Felipe says, with a little less confidence than the time before. “Jean-Eric put it down and Susie picked it up.”

“And you didn’t tell Rob this because…?”

“It is Susie’s plan,” Felipe says. “She thinks this will make Jean-Eric want to leave.”

“He wants to leave already,” Valtteri mutters, glancing back at Jean-Eric, who is still clutching onto Claire’s hand and sobbing. “You’ve got to feel a little sorry for him.”

“Of course I do,” Felipe says. “Is not nice when you do not belong somewhere. But are _you_ going to say no to Susie? This is for the best, no? He will tell Rob and Claire he does not want to be here and maybe they will finally see that this is not such a good idea and find somewhere else for him.”

 

It’s only when Dan gets a little closer that he notices Jean-Eric isn’t holding his teddy. He stops dead in the middle of the field and stares at Jean-Eric, trying to figure out where the stuffed toy is. Jean-Eric spots him staring and the crying only intensifies until Claire actually has to stop and ask what the matter is, but she doesn’t understand. None of them understand.

“Dan,” he says again. He can’t stop looking at Dan, even when Claire is talking at him and he knows it’s rude to not look at her.

“Hey, listen,” Claire says, smiling. She raises his chin so he’s looking at her. “Rob has gone to get him. He’ll be fine. He’ll probably be a little scared at being lost, but Rob will rescue him and bring him here. He won’t be long now.”

Jean-Eric nods even though Claire doesn’t understand at all and looks back at Dan, but he’s gone back to the Red Bull gazebo.

 

If Sebastian doesn’t calm down some time soon, Kimi is sure he’s going to explode. He’s never seen his little brother so excited, wearing the traditional Ferrari family red and very proud of this fact. He has a huge grin on his face that Kimi is trying hard not to replicate but it doesn’t seem to be working. Usually, he hates the assessments. It’s nothing more than a time to show off. But today he gets the feeling that he might just enjoy it.

Britta and Maurizio walk behind them, followed by half a dozen or so people Britta has never met. She’s seen the usual entourage that surrounds the family in red at the assessments, with their clip board and cameras, but she has no idea what they’re doing there, and she doesn’t think Maurizio is going to explain either.

Sebastian hasn’t asked who all the people are yet. Nobody’s certain he’s even noticed they’re there, too deep in his own fantastic daydream to notice anything that’s going on around him.

“This is going to be the best assessment ever,” he declares, falling back a little to walk side by side with Kimi, but he’s soon bouncing away ahead

Maybe it’s drugs making him this excited, Kimi thinks. He glances back at the crowd of people following them, making notes even though the assessment hasn’t properly begun yet. Maybe it _is_ drugs. He hasn’t found out what happened whilst Sebastian was with Maurizio the night before. He’d tried asking his little brother, but Sebastian could barely remember what he had for lunch and kept getting distracted, and there’s no way he’s going to speak to Maurizio about it.

Britta seems nice enough. Kimi isn’t sure he trusts her or not, and knows Sebastian’s judgement is nothing to trust. Either she knows what’s going on and is going along with it, in which case Kimi is not going to get any help from her at all, or she doesn’t know at all, which seems pretty useless too.

There’s nobody outside the so called family he can talk to. The only people he’s ever really spoken to at all are now all part of the family. He needs somebody who knows what’s going on and actually wants to help.

“Jenson! Give me back my phone!”

“One tweet!”

“Jenson, stop it! Give it back!”

“Come on, Nando, one tweet!”

 

The assessment has already started, the teams of assessors and trainees making their way through the gazebos, and Rob still is not back yet. Jean-Eric is sat alone in the Williams’ family gazebo whilst Claire has gone to find better signal to call Rob and the boys have gone to find their friends. He’s got his eyes on the Red Bull gazebo, watching Dan’s new brother pull faces at him. Dan’s laughing back but he doesn’t look happy. When he catches Jean-Eric’s eye, Jean-Eric quickly turns his gaze to the floor. Without his toy to play with, he curls his fingers into the cuffs of the jumper he’s wearing, hoping that will help.

When he looks up, Dan’s stood opposite him. Usually, Dan’s the smiley one but today he’s not. Today he looks like he wants to cry and Jean-Eric would too but he’s all cried out.

“Dan?”

Dan gulps and looks down at Jean-Eric’s empty hands. He’s still carrying the stuffed wolf Jean-Eric gave him before they left. Still carrying it like he’d promised, like Jean-Eric had promised to carry his toy.

Dan puts the toy down on the table and, without saying a word, goes to leave.

Jean-Eric jumps up and grabs Dan’s hand.

“Wait, Dan, please.”

“You don’t want to be friends anymore,” Dan says.

“I do,” Jean-Eric says. “I didn’t mean to. He got lost. I’m sorry.”

“You said you would look after him, Jev, and you didn’t,” Dan says. He pulls his hand away from the boy who used to be his brother and runs back to Christian.

Jean-Eric stares after them, catching the glare Christian shoots in his direction. He glances around, but Claire isn’t back yet and the boys who are supposed to be his brothers look busy with their own friends. He doesn’t belong here. He _knows_ that. But he had thought he belonged with Dan, until now.

Taking the teddy – Dan’s Jev – with him, Jean-Eric slides out of the tent and disappears into the woods that back the field.

 

“Why should I help you?” Fernando asks once Kimi has pulled him away from Jenson and told the Brit to mind his own business when he asks what’s wrong. “You never helped me. Or Felipe. Or Valtteri.”

“I’m not asking you to help me,” Kimi says. “I’m asking you to help _him_.”

He nods back to Sebastian, who he left playing eye-spy with one of the tutors. He doesn’t know how long he has until Sebastian’s back at his side asking what’s wrong, and he doesn’t really want to be stood here talking to Fernando for too long anyway. Ferrari children aren’t known for socialising with the others.

“We’re not allowed to talk about it,” Fernando says, eventually.

“Like I care.”

“I do,” Fernando says. “I do not know what they’re going to do. Hurt me. Jenson. Sebastian.”

“I need to look after him, Fernando,” Kimi says. “He’s just a kid.”

“Ah, now we finally see the real Kimi,” Fernando says, a smile tugging at his lips. “Now his family have finally found his real brother, he actually has to start caring about the world.”

“You need to tell me what those people did to you,” Kimi says.

“We are not allowed to talk about it,” Fernando reminds him.

“Then I’ll find some place they won’t hear us,” Kimi says.

 

When Valtteri and Felipe eventually make it back to the gazebo, laughing about how easy it was to scare Pastor now that Susie has her powers, Jean-Eric is nowhere to be seen. Thankfully, Claire isn’t back either.

“If he isn’t here when Claire gets back, she’s going to kill us,” Valtteri says.

Felipe nods. It’s a given.

“We need to get that stupid toy and give it him back,” Valtteri says.

“Do you want to tell Susie that or shall I?” Felipe says. “We find him and talk to him first, then if he still needs the teddy, we’ll figure out a way to convince Susie to give it back.”

Valtteri leaves without saying anything, his not so perfect flying ability causing a small commotion at the next gazebo. Felipe sighs starts the search through the families, just in case this isn’t as bad as he thinks it is.

 

Jean-Eric doesn’t hear Valtteri behind him at all. He’s sat on a fallen log a little way into the woods, out of sight from the chaos there but still able to hear it all. From behind, it looks to Valtteri like he’s crying and the small sobs he lets out confirms that. This does not look good.

“Moi,” Valtteri says, sitting down beside Jean-Eric with his arm around the younger boy’s shoulders so he doesn’t run off.

Jean-Eric looks up at him with red, puffy eyes, then down at the toy he’s holding. It isn’t Dan, Valtteri notices. That probably isn’t a good thing either.

“Who is this then?” he asks. He doesn’t dare touch the teddy, knowing how badly he reacted when Felipe took Dan. “Is he Dan’s friend?”

Jean-Eric nods, but he doesn’t look up.

“Tortay?” Valtteri asks.

Jean-Eric frowns in confusion and looks up at Valtteri.

_What?_

Valtteri smiles, trying not to scare the child. “When Felipe and I are upset, we say that. It’s just to ask what the matter is, but it’s ok if you don’t want to talk about it. Don’t tell anyone else, though. It’s our special secret word.”

Jean-Eric smiles back, looking between the toy and his brother.

_He’s Dan’s._

“Dan’s?”

_Dan was my brother. But then they said he wasn’t. So I gave this to him, and he gave me Dan, and I promised to look after it. But now I lost it and Dan doesn’t want to be my friend anymore, so he gave me his teddy back._

Jean-Eric bites his lip and tries not to cry again. He knows he’s annoying Valtteri but he doesn’t know how to stop.

“Right,” Valtteri says. “Stay here. I’m going to get Felipe and we’re going to sort this out, alright?”

_How?_

“Never you mind,” Valtteri says. “Will be one moment, alright?”


	9. If The Sky Comes Falling Down

Felipe holds out the teddy for Jean-Eric. He can feel Susie scowling at him from just behind him, but the look Valtteri is giving him makes him feel even worse. Jean-Eric’s face brightens in an instant.

“Dan!”

He shoves the Jev teddy towards Valtteri, who takes it quickly, and grabs Dan from Felipe. He doesn’t seem to be hurt at all, just as good as when he put him down on the bus. Everything will be better now. He can explain to Dan and…

“What is going on?”

The four of them spin around to see Rob and Claire watching them. Claire has her arms folded and looks like she would explode at any given moment. Rob just looks disappointed. Felipe can’t tell which is worse.

“You took Dan from him?” Claire asks.

“Yes,” Felipe says, quietly. “It was just a joke…”

“Just a joke?” Rob asks. “I don’t think it was very funny. Do you think Jean-Eric found it very funny?”

_It doesn’t matter._

“The three of you are grounded,” Claire snaps.

“What?” Susie cries. “That’s not fair!”

“It wasn’t Susie,” Felipe jumps in, hoping Valtteri will go with him. “She had nothing to do with it, Claire. It was just me.”

“And me,” Valtteri adds.

Susie’s staring at her brothers in shock, but she isn’t about to argue with them. Rob can’t be sure he believes them or not, but he isn’t going to argue either. Like Claire said, she’s the one that punishes them.

“Alright,” Claire says eventually, having made up her mind. “Susie, you’re not grounded. But all three of you are going to have to start treating Jean-Eric nicely, or none of you are ever leaving the house again.”

“Sorry,” Felipe mutters, hanging his head.

“It isn’t fair though,” Valtteri jumps in, quickly, before they turn their attention to other things. “Jean-Eric doesn’t want to be here and we all fit together. You are not listening to us. It is no wonder they- _we_ have to do things like this.”

Now everyone’s staring at Valtteri, an uncommon occurrence. He can feel himself beginning to blush but it needed to be said. Susie’s the only one saying anything and they always ignore her. They all fell the same way and Valtteri doesn’t understand why they can’t find Jean-Eric somewhere else.

There’s silence for a while, neither Rob nor Claire sure how to react.

“Two weeks, you pair are grounded for,” Claire says eventually. “And don’t think that’s going to be it.”

 

Fernando keeps glancing over his shoulder at the Ferrari family but Kimi has dragged him to the edge of the field, a little way down from the gazebos and the rest of the families, and is certain they’re out of sight and ear shot here. He needs to know what happened the night before the fences were put up.

“They do these… experiment things,” Fernando says, slowly. “I do not know everything that happened. Felipe or Valtteri are probably best to ask.”

“I am asking you,” Kimi says.

Fernando shrugs. “They want to make power possessors more powerful – able to control their powers and things. But it did not seem to be working. They just made people ill.”

Kimi glances over Fernando’s shoulder at the rest of the field. This is going to have to be quick or someone is going to come over and ask what they’re doing.

Fernando turns around, quickly, scared by the glance, but nobody has noticed they’re missing yet. He lets out a shaky breath before turning back to Kimi.

“You think they are doing something to Sebastian?” he asks.

Kimi nods. “They took him to the building you broke into.”

“And what was he like when he came out?”

“Like he always is,” Kimi says. “I do not know if they have already started doing something or…”

“We have to do something,” Fernando says. As much as he doesn’t like the annoying brat, he wouldn’t wish what the people who worked for Ferrari did on anybody.

“What?”

“I do not know yet,” Fernando says. He glances back again. There is not enough time to come up with a plan here, not without somebody noticing they’re missing. “I will think of something and come to see you. Just keep an eye on him.”

 

“Tia Claire!”

The silence is broken by one of the assessors in training bounces into the Williams gazebo and into Claire.

“Bruno,” Claire cries, grinning as she wraps her arms around the power possessor. A long time ago, he’d been part of the Williams family, but that hadn’t worked out either. “Long time no see. What are you doing here?”

“Training,” Bruno says, nodding towards two other assessors who are making their way to the gazebo. “Had to say hello to my favourite ‘mum’ though, didn’t I? Hey boys.”

He nods to Felipe and Valtteri. He’s not much older than either of them, but was fast tracked into assessing when they found he didn’t fit into any of the families.

“How are things?” Claire says. “How are things at the House?”

“You make it sound very ominous, Claire,” Bruno laughs. “No, they are good.”

The House is an orphanage of sorts for power possessors without families. It was the only place they had been able to find for Bruno when they realised he wouldn’t be able to stay with them and, though they’re looked after there and trained to be part of the world they had left, it didn’t feel right. It never would to Claire.

“Did I tell you we have our own assessments now?” Bruno asked.

“No, you didn’t.”

“Yeah,” Bruno blushes, grinning. “It does not work so well sometimes. The powers are not so well controlled.”

“How many accidents have you had?” Claire asks, grinning back.

“Just a few,” Bruno says.

The two other assessors catch up with their young trainee and it’s only then that Claire realises it’s Ted and Martin. The cheerful grin on her face is gone in an instant.

“Right, let’s get this over with.”

 

Christian has taken little Dan to the toilet when Jean-Eric comes over, the stuffed wolf in one hand with Dan in the other. It’s only when he dumps both toys on the table that Dan looks up.

“Found him.”

He sits next to Dan and puts his toy in his hands.

“Sorry I lost him. I didn’t mean to.”

“We’re not brothers anymore, Jev,” Dan says, quietly. “Other Dan is my brother now.”

He rubs his eyes on the back of his hand, trying to hide the fact he’s crying from Jean-Eric, but he doesn’t need to be able to see to know.

“It’s not true,” Jean-Eric says. “You hear me, even when I am not there. And I hear you. It does not just happen, Dan. We _are_ brothers, even if they say we’re not.”

“But…” Dan falls silent and looks down at his Jev, then brings the toy to his face and rubs it’s paw on the spot behind his ear that tickles a little. “But if we _are_ brothers, then what happens?”

“I don’t know,” Jean-Eric says, putting his arm over Dan’s shoulder. “But we will figure it out.”

“Jean-Eric?”

Jean-Eric jumps up to find Rob watching them with a grin on his face.

_I’m sorry. I’m coming now._

“You can talk to your friends if you want to,” Rob says, still grinning. There’s somebody Jean-Eric speaks to. And once he feels comfortable with them, he’ll speak to them to. “I just… it doesn’t matter. The assessors are going to want you soon, though.”

Jean-Eric smiles weakly at Dan in a small goodbye, not daring to speak again now that there’s somebody else watching him. Dan waves with the teddy, returning the same silent smile.

 

Kimi watches Sebastian skip away from his assessment grinning. He’s done well, clearly. Of course he’s done well. And, if Kimi knows his little brother, he’s going to be being an arrogant idiot about it for a few days. Kimi will probably let him off the hook, though. He usually does.

Before he can congratulate Sebastian, Maurizio pulls him aside. Kimi falls back into his seat, not letting the fear and disappointment show on his face.

“Are you alright?” Britta asks, quietly.

“Am fine,” Kimi says, coldly. One of the few good things about the Ferrari “parents” is that none of them have ever tried to interact with Kimi. They understand this isn’t a family and want as much to do with him as he does with them. But Britta doesn’t seem to have gotten the memo. She cares about Sebastian and, if he really is Sebastian’s brother, him too.

It complicates things.

“It is good to see them getting along,” she says, watching Sebastian and Maurizio wander around the field. “I think Sebastian was a little worried that they would not. What about us, Kimi? Do you fancy the two of us doing something together? Cinema, perhaps? Or something else if you like? It’s up to you.”

“I am fine,” Kimi says. He doesn’t look at her, watching Sebastian instead. His eyes flick over to Fernando as the pair pass him. Fernando meets his eye and Kimi’s surprised to find fear there.

“I know you are,” Britta says, still trying to break that barrier between them. “But we’re a family now, Kimi, and I really think it would be a good idea if you and I spent some time together. It would help us all, including Sebastian.”

Even when Kimi isn’t looking at her, he can feel Britta watching him, waiting for an answer. If this were a _normal_ family, it probably would help if he and Britta got on. But it isn’t. And the minute Britta takes him to the cinema, or something else, Maurizio is going to have Sebastian at the building on the top of the hill and it’s going to be too late for Kimi to do anything by the time he finds out.

“Or we could just sit around and watch TV,” Britta says once she’s sure Kimi is just ignoring her. “Hey, maybe you could help me with my Italian? It’s a little rusty.”

She nudges him playfully and when Kimi finally looks up at her, doing his best to look as board as possible and achieving the goal with ease, she’s smiling sweetly at him.

“Maybe,” he says, eventually.

“Great,” Britta says. “We’ll all be best friends in no time, I’m sure.”


	10. For You, There's Nothing In This World I Wouldn't Do

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this really isn't very good, and I want you to know that every comment, kudos, and hit is appreciated. Thank you so much.

Susie catches Felipe just as they get off the train, wrapping her hand around his wrist and shocking him still with a memory. It’s nothing special, but the small moments of confusion always catch Felipe out and they’re a little way behind the rest of the family by the time he snaps out of it.

“What now?”

“Why did you cover for me?” Susie asks, slowing Felipe down when he tries to march off. She’s watching Claire, waiting to see if she can hear them, but if doesn’t look like it.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Felipe asks.

“Because I’m an annoying brat who resents the fact any of her family exist.”

“And yet you would still do the same for me,” Felipe says, because he knows it’s true.

Susie glares at him but doesn’t deny it.

“Why?”

“Because you will only do something worse if they force you to stay at home,” Felipe says. “Think it is for the best if maybe you spend as little time with Jean-Eric as possible. Leave it to me and Valtteri. We will sort it out.”

Susie snorts in disbelief. “What are you going to do? Comfort him into leaving.”

“He already wants to leave,” Felipe says. “He just cannot say it, like Valtteri said earlier. We will figure something out, Susie. Do not worry about it.”

She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, but allows Felipe to pull her into an awkward one armed hug as they walk.

When they reach Frank’s room at the hospital, Claire and Rob let the children go in first. Jean-Eric stands outside, peering in awkwardly whilst the others begin to chat away as if nothing has happened.

“It’s ok,” Claire says. “You can go in.”

Jean-Eric still isn’t sure, glancing through at the others.

“He’s very excited to meet you, Jean-Eric,” Claire says. “Rob and I have told him all about you.”

It isn’t strictly true, but it puts a smile on Jean-Eric’s face and he steps inside the room to join the others. Claire sighs, rubbing her forehead, and Rob lets the door swing shut.

“What are we going to do with them?” he asks. He’s never had to do the whole punishment thing before. He’s never thought he’d have to. “I don’t think they’re going to settle with Jean-Eric.”

As much as he loves the child, it isn’t working. Whatever they had thought there might be between them and Jean-Eric has clearly disappeared and they’re only going to hurt someone if they keep him here.

“It might still work out,” Claire says, hopefully.

“When do we accept it isn’t, then?” Rob asks. “When they’ve tried to drown him?”

“Our boys are not Pastor,” Claire hisses. “They wouldn’t do something like that.”

“And are we just going to wait around until they do?” Rob hisses back. “We need to find somewhere else for him, Claire. His assessment score went down. We’re not helping him.”

It’s true and they both know it. It had been unlikely he would fit in the first place, but neither of them had expected things to go this badly.

“How do we tell him?” Claire asks. “It isn’t his fault.”

“I know,” Rob says, quietly. “We’ll start looking around. We don’t tell him until we’ve an idea where he can go.”

“I don’t believe we’re giving up so easily,” Claire says.

“It’s not giving up,” Rob reminds her. “It’s doing what’s best. For all of them.”

 

“When are you coming home?” Susie asks. She’s sat with her legs crossed on the end of Frank’s bed whilst the boys sit beside it. “It’s not the same without you.”

Sometimes it feels like he’s the only one who understands her. He’s the one that makes sure Rob and Claire know what’s going on. And he’s the one who makes her see sense most of the time. It _isn’t_ the same without him. It’s her against Rob and Claire, and Valtteri and Felipe do nothing to help most of the time. She needs her granddad back.

“I know,” Frank says, softly. “It won’t be long now, Susie. I promise.”

She’s not convinced, of course, but there’s nothing else she can expect Frank to say. He’ll get better eventually and then he’ll come back. Then things will get back to normal.

“Come on,” Frank says, trying to lighten the mood again. “I need to know about the assessments. Still holding the Williams name in good light, I hope.”

“Valtteri was the second best of the day,” Felipe says, because he knows his brother won’t. Valtteri goes bright pink and grins sheepishly at the floor when Frank congratulates him, mumbling something at the end about it not being a competition, even though it is.

“And Susie?” he asks, once he’s heard from both the boys.

“Still not strong enough to register a reading,” Susie says, quietly. She doesn’t know why that’s the case. She’s getting better at controlling her powers. It doesn’t make any sense to her, but she doesn’t care enough to argue about it.

“You’ll get there eventually,” Frank says. “Most people don’t register a reading for the first year or so.”

Susie rolls her eyes and tucks her knees under her chin. She knows this, but she’s already way behind her brothers. She doesn’t want a year of this as well.

“And what about you?” Frank says, turning to Jean-Eric. He hasn’t said anything since he came into the room, sitting opposite Valtteri and Felipe with Dan on his lap and his fingers in his mouth. “Sorry I couldn’t make it to your first with us. I’ll be there at the next, I’m sure.”

Jean-Eric still does not say anything, not wanting to annoy Susie or the boys any more than he already has. Frank still smiles at him though. It isn’t the same as when Rob and Claire smile at him. It isn’t supposed to be settling. It’s happy. Genuinely happy. Jean-Eric gives him a small smile in return.

“Jean-Eric did not register a reading either,” Felipe says, quietly. He’s got a feeling that was his fault. If he and Susie had never taken Dan, he probably would have done better. But there’s nothing to be done about that now but try to make things better for next time.

“First time at a new family doesn’t always work well,” Frank says, gently. “You’ll get there eventually, right?”

“Guys?” Claire says, coming into the room. “Can you give us a second?”

“Why?” Valtteri asks, quickly.

“Just give us a second, we need to talk to Frank,” Rob says. “Why don’t you go and buy some sweets or something.”

“Because we are not five?” Felipe suggests.

“Go and buy some sweets,” Rob says, sternly, handing Valtteri the money because he knows he’s the most likely to be trusted. The three Williams children stand, grumbling, but Jean-Eric doesn’t move. “You too,” Rob says, to him, putting on that same smile that he hopes is settling. “We need to talk about adult stuff. It’ll be ok.”

Jean-Eric looks between the three teenagers as he slowly gets off his seat, the fear clear on his face and in his thoughts.

“It’ll be ok,” Rob says again. “They’re not going to do anything. Are you _boys_?”

“No,” Valtteri says, quickly. “Will let you have first pick at the vending machine, if you would like?”

Once the children have gone, Claire and Rob fall into the seats they have vacated.

“What’s wrong?” Frank asks.

“It’s Jean-Eric,” Claire begins. “We don’t… we don’t think he fits here.”

“And what has given you this impression?” Franks asks.

“The kids don’t want him here,” Claire says. “They’re going out of their way to hurt him to try to make him leave. And he doesn’t want to be here either. There’s nothing between us anymore. I don’t think he’s my son, Dad.”

Frank nods slowly and pushes himself a little further up the bed. When Claire tries to help, he waves her away.

“Now,” he says. “You’re sure of this.”

“As sure as I can be,” Claire says.

“The kids have been making it pretty obvious,” Rob adds.

“Right,” Frank says. “I don’t think he belongs here either.”

“You… don’t?” Claire asks. “You got that from five minutes with him.”

“I got that as soon as he walked through the door,” Frank says. “It isn’t always obvious whether they belong here or not, but that one seemed to be screaming it. Where’s he from?”

“The Torro Rossos,” Rob says, quietly.

“Ah,” Frank says. “There is no way he can go back there then.”

“There’s nowhere he can go. That’s why we took him so soon,” Claire says. “They looked everywhere.”

Frank nods slowly. “How is Bruno?”

 

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Susie asks, whilst Felipe carefully makes his decision at the vending machine.

Valtteri shrugs. “Probably nothing important. They like to over react about stuff that does not matter.”

“Probably us,” Felipe says, not turning to face them.

“What about us?” Susie asks, uncertainly. Her eyes flick between Felipe and Valtteri, trying to tell if he’s joking or not.

Valtteri groans, falling back to lean against the wall.

“Nothing,” he insists.

“They want to get rid of one of us, don’t they?” Susie says. “They’re going to blame you two for what I did and send one of you away, aren’t they?”

“That is stupid,” Valtteri insists. “They know we belong together. They are not going to be sending anyone away. Except maybe…”

He nods towards Jean-Eric, sat a little way down the corridor with his own chocolate bar.

“You should go and say sorry.”

“I already said sorry,” Susie complains.

“Properly,” Valtteri says.

The usual over dramatic sigh comes, but Susie stomps down the corridor and sits on the bench besides Jean-Eric. When he sees her coming, he moves Dan from the bench and onto his lap. She isn’t getting him again.

“I’m sorry, alright,” Susie says.

“Properly,” Valtteri calls down the hall, attracting scowls from the other visitors to the hospital.

Susie shoots him a glare then takes Jean-Eric by the arm and pulls him around the corner, out of sight of her brothers.

“They’re such idiots some times,” she mutters, sitting the boy down on the next bench and dumping herself down beside him. “I’m sorry. I just… I just got scared.”

Jean-Eric stares at her as if she’s mad and maybe she is. She doesn’t have to explain herself to him. But she needs to talk to someone and if Jean-Eric can’t say anything but “Dan”, she might as well speak to him.

“I have been here my entire life,” Susie says. “Since I was a baby. And it’s never quite been right, you know? It’s like a jigsaw with half the pieces missing. Then Valtteri came and then Felipe and Rob and things finally fitted. For the first time in my entire life, nothing felt forced. And we went through so much shit to make sure everyone was happy and safe. But then Mum and Rob don’t think it’s right. They don’t think what _I_ feel is right. Maybe I’m being selfish. But they aren’t happy and they’re going to change what makes me happy to make themselves happy. I am selfish, aren’t I? But, yeah… I know you never asked for any of that. Sorry.”

There’s silence for a few minutes whilst Susie goes over what she said in her mind. Yes. That’s how she feels. She can’t tell Toto that, because he’ll tell her she’s being stupid, and there is more than one way to be happy. And she can’t tell any of her family that, because they’ll claim to be making things better. Everyone always has an answer.

Except Jean-Eric. When she glances over at him, he’s still staring at her. Dan and the chocolate bar sit, forgotten, beside him. With no warning, he sits up onto his knees and hugs Susie. She doesn’t react for a couple of moments, then pats Jean-Eric on the back, a little confused.

“I forgive you,” he says when he pulls away.

“You…?”

Jean-Eric grins, sheepishly, then grabs Dan and the chocolate bar and skips back around the corner.


	11. They Tell Me I'm Too Young To Understand

Almost as soon as they arrive back at the house, Sebastian collapses on the sofa, fast asleep. Britta and Maurizio just laugh and make comments about how over excited he’s been the entire day. And he has been. Kimi’s surprised he hasn’t hit the floor already. But it still seems strange to him. He sits at Sebastian’s head, feeling his forehead, but he doesn’t know what he’s looking for. He’s never had to look after anyone before.

“Why don’t you take him up to his bed?” Britta suggests.

“What about dinner?” Kimi asks.

“I’ll fix him something when he wakes up,” Britta says.

Kimi nods and lifts Sebastian into his arms. The way he just knocked out doesn’t seem healthy to Kimi. Once they’re up the stairs and in Sebastian’s room, Kimi lays him on the bed, checking his head again. It _is_ warm, but he doesn’t know if that means anything. Everything’s warm where they are now.

“Seb?” he says, gently shaking Sebastian’s shoulder. “Seb, wake up a minute.”

Sebastian groans, but doesn’t wake up, curling up a little in the bed. He can’t be that bad, Kimi figures, if he’s groaning, and he leaves Sabastian alone in the room with the door open.

Before heading downstairs, he uses the toilet at the end of the hall and, when he passes the bedroom again, a small crash makes him stop.

Sebastian is on the floor, shaking, and when Kimi goes in to see to him, he won’t stop.

“Britta!”

Sweat is pouring down Sebastian’s face and forms a little puddle at the base of his neck. Kimi places Sebastian’s head on his lap, no idea what to do but knowing it’s probably best Sebastian’s head _isn’t_ being smashed against the floor. He won’t stop shaking.

“Britta!”

As soon as Britta has seen what’s going on, she’s at Sebastian’s side.

“How long has he been like this?” she asks, taking the pillow which has been thrown across the floor and placing it beneath Sebastian’s head so that Kimi can stand.

“I don’t know,” Kimi says. “Half a minute? Or that is when he fell out of the bed. I went to the toilet…”

“It’s ok,” Britta says, watching her watch and counting the seconds. “You couldn’t have done anything.”

“Do you need me to do something now?” Kimi asks. “Phone an ambulance?”

“No,” Britta says. “No, he should be fine.”

It’s a few minutes before the seizure stops, and there’s nothing for Kimi to do but sit and watch it happen. Maurizio has come up to see what’s wrong, but Kimi hasn’t even noticed he’s there.

“Sometimes he gets like this,” Britta explains, rolling Sebastian onto his side whilst he’s still unconscious. “It’s nothing to worry about, as long as he’s in a safe place when it happens.”

“This has happened before?” Kimi asks. He had been sure this down to whatever happened in the building at the top of the hill.

Britta nods. “We’re not sure why. Epilepsy, but there’s no cause for it. The doctors say he might grow out of it.”

Kimi’s seen epileptic fits before. Romain gets them sometimes and Kimi saw a few whilst he was staying with them. This does not look like that. He isn’t going to let them brush it away like that.

“Are you sure?” Kimi asks. “It wasn’t something else?”

“Like what?” Maurizio asks, making Kimi jump a little. The so called parent rests a hand on Kimi’s shoulder and looks down at him, waiting for an answer.

He _knows_.

“Don’t know,” Kimi mutters.

“Sebbie?” Britta says gently as Seb begins to stir. “Seb, you’re alright. You had a fit.”

“My head hurts,” Seb mumbles.

“That’s probably because you fell out of bed,” Britta says with a laugh. “You just stay down there for a little while, ok?”

 

_A fit?_

Kimi rolls his eyes at the phone.

_Yes, a fit._

What about that is difficult to understand, he doesn’t know. Fernando is supposed to be helping but at the moment Kimi thinks talking to himself might work just as well.

He looks over to watch Sebastian whilst he waits for a reply. The child is curled up with Britta under a blanket that he probably doesn’t need but he’s milking being sick for all it’s worth, including persuading Maurizio to go and get junk food for dinner.

He could talk to Britta now, Kimi thinks. There’s nothing stopping him. Fernando is probably being paranoid about them coming after Jenson. After all, nothing bad happened to anybody the last time something happened at the building on the top of the hill.

_I think I should tell Britta._

He knows before he even gets a reply what Fernando will say. More warnings about the fictional threats that Maurizio and everybody else from Ferrari has supposedly told him.

_No what?_

_Are you sure you can even trust her? You do not even know her?_

Kimi glances over at Britta again. She isn’t looking at him, reading a book with her fingers running through Sebastian’s hair. No, he doesn’t know if he can trust her, but he does. She cares about Sebastian. Nobody else at Ferrari has ever even tried to pretend that things here are normal, but it looks like Britta genuinely believes they are. She cares about Sebastian, like him. And he trusts her.

He sends with no explanation. Fernando won’t listen to the exploitation anyway.

_I still do not think you should tell her. What if your house is bugged or something._

Kimi rolls his eyes. He doesn’t remember Fernando being this stupid when they lived together, not that he had spent much time with him…

 _What if your phone is bugged?_ He replies. He shouldn’t, but he does.

Maurizio returns with a plastic bag of food and Sebastian jumps up, apparently forgetting the fact he’s supposed to be ill. It makes Kimi grin like an idiot and he puts the phone away to go and help serve dinner. The excited, chirpy, over enthusiastic child from the morning is back and Kimi’s surprised he manages to eat anything at all as he talks all the way through the meal.

“So you’ve had a good day?” Britta asks, as if it even needs asking.

Sebastian nods so hard his head could fall off if it were only a little less secure.

“The best,” he says. “I can’t wait until the next assessment.”

“Well, you’re going to have to put in some more work with the tutor,” Maurizio comments from across the table, making Sebastian’s grin fall a little.

“Yeah, of course, but you did really well today, Seb,” Britta says. “You should be proud of yourself.”

“But you can do better,” Maurizio reminds him.

 

Kimi’s only been in bed for five minutes when he hears the bedroom door creep open. It is _not_ morning yet. Sure, he went to bed late, but it can’t have been _that_ late.

He turns over, determined to get some more sleep, but he can still hear the quiet padding of feet against carpet as someone crosses the room.

“Kimi?”

“What now Seb?” Kimi grumbles.

“I had a nightmare,” Sebastian whispers, though Kimi has no idea who he’s trying to keep quiet for. “Can I sleep in your bed?”

“It was just a bad dream, go back to bed,” Kimi replies, turning over again.

There’s more padding of feet against soft carpet, then a shaky breath from someone right in front of him.

“There’re monsters outside, Kimi,” Sebastian whispers.

Kimi frowns and sits up. Sebastian’s eyes are wide and catch all the light in the dark, but get wider when Kimi sits up.

“Don’t go and get them!” Sebastian hisses. “They can’t come in. Please can I sleep in your bed with you?”

Kimi screws his eyes shut and he knows he’s going to regret it in the morning but he moves over a little in the bed and lifts the blanket for Sebastian to climb in beside him. Sebastian wriggles a little trying to make himself comfortable, then settles.

“What did you have a nightmare about, Seb?” Kimi asks once Sebastian is still.

“It was about…” Sebastian wriggles again and turns around to face Kimi. “I don’t remember.”

“But you’re still scared?”

“I remember how I felt,” Sebastian says, his face comically serious against his super hero pyjamas. “It wasn’t good and I didn’t like it. Don’t _laugh_ at me Kimi.”

“Am not laughing,” Kimi lies. He isn’t laughing at Sebastian, just the serious look on his face. “But… you think there’s something outside.”

“There’s _always_ something outside,” Sebastian mumbles. His eyes are heavy and drooping and if Kimi doesn’t get something useful out of him soon he’s not going to have a chance. He could be wrong, but he’s sure this is something to do with whatever Maurizio has been doing to him, just like he’s sure the fit was.

“But the dream wasn’t about that?” he asks.

“I don’t remember,” Sebastian says. “It was just a dream. Not important.”

“Try to remember for me, Seb,” Kimi says, shaking him gently to try to keep him awake. “What did you dream about?”

Sebastian screws his eyes shut, trying to remember the dream, but there’s nothing there.

He shakes his head. “I just remember being scared,” he says quietly. “And alone.”

“Alone?”

Sebastian nods the best he can whilst lying down and pushes his head against Kimi’s pillow, his eyes still shut. Sleep creeping back into his own eyes, Kimi watches Sebastian go to sleep. Once he’s sure his brother has drifted off, Kimi slips out of the bed and goes to the window. He isn’t sure what makes him look, but he just wants to check.

Outside, the world is sleeping. It’s pitch black but for one dim street light that casts more shadows than lights. Nobody’s out there. Of course nobody’s out there.

Settled, Kimi climbs back into the bed, careful to not wake Sebastian.

“You’re not alone.”


	12. They Say I'm Caught Up In A Dream

“Where are you going?” Valtteri asks, coming down the stairs just as Rob and Claire are leaving. They don’t usually leave the house, not together anyway, unless it’s for shopping or secret meetings to go and collect more power possessors.

“Just out,” Claire says. “And you are grounded, remember. So you’re staying here.”

“Ok,” Valtteri says, sitting on the stairs. He never had any intention of trying to go anywhere anyway.

“We’re leaving Jean-Eric here, so please be nice to him,” Rob says. It had been a hard decision to make, but Claire doesn’t want to get the child’s hopes up if where they have planned doesn’t seem right to her. She wants to be sure before she says anything to any of the kids. It’ll only be worse if this doesn’t work out.

“Ok.”

“And make sure your brother and sister are too,” Rob adds. He knows he doesn’t really have to worry about Valtteri, but the other two, he isn’t so sure about.

“Ok.”

“And if we hear you’ve been out, that’s another week grounded,” Claire says.

“Ok.”

Claire nods and, with nothing further to add, leaves. Rob sighs and gives Valtteri a weak smile.

“There’s some pizza in the freezer if you get hungry,” he says. “We might be a while.”

 

_I don’t know Dan. But she was nice to me yesterday. I don’t want to annoy her again, though._

The knock at the bedroom door makes Jean-Eric jump. He automatically shoves Dan under the bed covers, just to keep him safe, then goes to open the door.

“Hi,” Susie says, nervously. She’s no reason to be nervous, other than if Felipe and Valtteri see her doing this, she’s never going to hear the end of it from them. “I wasn’t sure whether to knock or not, but it annoys me when people don’t knock, so…”

She hasn’t said anything to him since the hospital. There hasn’t been anything she’s needed to say and she spent most of the night before in her room. Jean-Eric didn’t come to disturb her. Nobody did. She’s not sure if she likes that or not.

Jean-Eric smiles, not sure if he should be or not and trying very hard not to annoy her.

“About yesterday…” Susie says, slowly. “I’d rather you didn’t tell anybody what I told you.”

Jean-Eric nods. He isn’t surprised.

“Right,” Susie says. She doesn’t know what else to day now. She’s come and delivered her message. There’s nothing else to say. “I was going to go for a walk.” It isn’t a lie. “Do you want to come with me?” That was never the plan, but it seems like the right thing to do.

Jean-Eric glances back at Dan. He’s not sure if this is another trick or not. She’d sounded nice the last time she’d taken him, but that hadn’t been true. What’s there to say this isn’t going to be the same thing?

“You don’t have to,” Susie says.

Jean-Eric goes back into the room and collects Dan from his bed.

“You’re not going to take him again?”

“No,” Susie says. “No, I promise I won’t take him.”

“Alright then,” Jean-Eric says. “Let’s go then.”

 

“Where’s Seb?” Britta asks. It’s almost midmorning and even Kimi’s up, but Sebastian still hasn’t emerged from upstairs. The only reason Kimi’s awake is because he wasn’t able to sleep. He’s been making a plan, of sorts. He needs to get Sebastian out of here, but he wants to know what’s going on. He needs Fernando’s help with that, and maybe the Williams children if Fernando isn’t going to help him.

“Sleeping,” Kimi mumbles, not looking up from his breakfast. “He had a nightmare last night.”

“Nightmares?” Maurizio asks from the other side of the room. Kimi rolls his eyes. He hadn’t even noticed Maurizio and the guy needs to get a bell or something or Kimi’s going to fuck this all up.

“Yeah,” Kimi says.

“What about?” Maurizio asks.

Kimi shrugs. “He didn’t remember.”

“Right,” Maurizio says, slowly, and Britta’s pretty sure she’s missed something here. Kids have nightmares. Sebastian has never been one to have nightmares, but he’s spends enough time in the evening getting scared by his own thoughts that it isn’t surprising he’s had a nightmare. Maurizio seems to be taking this to be a bigger deal than it actually is.

“Is something wrong?” she asks.

“No,” Maurizio says, quickly. “Nothing’s wrong. I’ve just got to go and run an errand.”

Britta doesn’t question him again and Kimi doesn’t think she would get any answers anyway. He’s as sure as he can be that Britta doesn’t know what’s going on, but he’s also sure she isn’t going to figure out something’s wrong by herself. He’s going to need to tell her. Never mind what Fernando thinks might happen.

“So,” Britta says, sitting on the stool beside Kimi. She’s figured she’s going to have to keep trying with him. He doesn’t really interact with Maurizio and they’re supposed to be a family. “Just you and me then.”

Kimi nods, finishing his breakfast. He pushes the bowl away, but doesn’t move from the seat.

“What do you want to do then?” Britta asks. “It’s up to you.”

“I think we need to talk,” Kimi says.

“Sure,” Britta says and she can’t really believe this is actually working. Kimi is really speaking to her. “About anything in particular?”

“Does this feel normal to you?” Kimi asks. It seems like a good place to begin. Beginning has never been his strong point. It has always been one of the main reasons why he is so quiet. He doesn’t know _how_ to talk about the things he wants to talk about.

“Normal how?” Britta asks.

“Like a normal family,” Kimi says. He really hopes he isn’t going to need to spell this out, because he doesn’t know if he can. Britta needs to wake up and figure out what’s going on herself.

“How is a family supposed to feel like?” Britta asks. “I care about you, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“It is not you,” Kimi says. “It is Ferrari. We are not supposed to be a normal family.”

He looks up at Britta and is faced with a blank expression. Clearly she has no idea what’s going on and any small doubts that may have been fighting for head space in Kimi’s mind disappear.

“Before Sebastian,” Kimi explains. “They wanted the Williams kid here.”

“Valtteri?” Britta says. She’s familiar with the family’s immediate past. “They thought Valtteri belonged here, yes?”

“No,” Kimi says. “They thought he might be useful. So they told me to go and convince him that he belonged with us. Was not difficult. Not when I can do what I can. So I did it. And they took him up to the building on top of the hill.”

He thinks back to the few days he’d spent in England. It had not been difficult at all to get inside Valtteri’s head. All it took was one touch to the wrist and they were connected. Kimi isn’t proud of what he’d done, but that’s in the past now.

“I do not know what happened in the building on top of the hill,” he admits. “But Fernando says they do experiments there.”

“Fernando?” Britta asks. “What does any of this have to do with Fernando?”

“He went with the Williams children to go and rescue Valtteri,” Kimi says. “He saw what they did, and he saw what they were doing to Felipe when he was here.”

“Kimi this doesn’t make any sense,” Britta says.

“Ferrari is not a family,” Kimi says. “They have never been a family. Fernando says they are just trying to make power possessors better and then to use them – us – to get what they want. They were doing experiments on Felipe, and Michael, and they would have done them on Valtteri too and I think – I _think_ – they are doing them on Sebastian.”

Britta stares at him as if he’s mad and he doesn’t blame her. If anybody had told him this, he would have thought the same.

“Let me talk to Maurizio,” she says, eventually.

“No,” Kimi almost jumps out of his seat to stop her. “No. He is on this. He will not help us and he will only make things worse. I need to protect Sebastian, Britta, and I cannot do that if he sends me away.”

“He can’t send you away,” Britta says. “You’re his brother. Anybody can see that.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Kimi says. “They do not care about that. They have Sebastian and that is all that matters to them.”

Kimi’s relieved to see Britta thinking again. She has to come up with something. She’s the adult here.

“Who else knows about this?” she asks.

Kimi shrugs. “Fernando. The Williams family. Michael. I think that might be it.”

“Right,” Britta says. She’ll go to see Rob and Claire. She’ll be able to make sense from them what’s going on and try to get this all sorted out. “You wait with Sebastian and I’ll sort this out.”

“How?” Kimi asks.

“Just leave it to me,” Britta says.

“Fernando said if anybody who works for the family find out we’ve been talking about it, they’ll make things worse,” Kimi says. “He was scared they would do something to Jenson. And they could make things worse for Sebastian.”

“They won’t find out,” Britta promises. “You wait here with Sebastian. Don’t leave the house, alright? I shouldn’t be long.”  


“ _Jenson!”_

Jenson is sat in the corner, sniggering to himself. When Ron looks up, he catches sight of the phone and closes his eyes. Not again. Please not again.

Fernando comes storming down the stairs with a face like thunder and, if Ron wasn’t sat there, he would be on top of Jenson by now, beating the shit out of him as best he could whilst Jenson was laughing. But Ron is sat there, so he falls to a stop before he can launch his attack and glares at his brother.

“I hate you.”

“Awww,” Jenson says, still giggling. “What’s wrong?”

“You know what’s wrong,” Fernando says. “Give me the phone.”

“Make me,” Jenson says, and he really shouldn’t be acting like he’s five, but it’s too much fun.

“Just give me the phone,” Fernando demands.

“Make me,” Jenson says again.

“Enough!” Ron snaps. They both turn and snap at him. “If I hear one more argument about the fucking phones, I am taking them both off you.”

He sighs and stands, bringing his hands to his forehead whilst the boys watch him. He did not sign up for this. Did any of the other families have this problem? No. He probably brought this on himself.

“I am going to go and make coffee,” Ron said. “And when I come back, you two had better have sorted out this phone thing for good. Do you understand?”

Both boys nod quickly and, as soon as Ron has gone into the kitchen, he can hear their argument continue in hushed whispers. He closes the door and puts the kettle on to boil. Deep breathes. Stay calm. They haven’t attempted to murder each other yet, which Ron is thankful for. It will get better.

When the kettle boils and Ron has made his coffee, he stands in the kitchen with it for a little while, his eyes closed. He just needs five minutes to himself.

“Right,” he calls when he’s brought himself together enough to deal with another phone argument. “This better be it now. No more stupid tweets or things.”

There’s no reply from the living room. There’s no reply from anywhere. The boys are gone.


	13. Well, Life Will Pass Me By If I Don't Open Up My Eyes

Britta is in tears by the time she makes in the Williams house. Finding someone to take her to England hadn’t been that difficult, but she hasn’t been able to explain what she’s doing. If Kimi’s right and Maurizio does find out where she’s gone, he’ll know Kimi’s told her. Maybe leaving the kids alone hadn’t been such a good idea, but taking them to England with her would only cause more questions, and she doesn’t know how to answer them.

She shouldn’t be crying. God, she _knows_ she shouldn’t be crying. She’s the adult. She’s the one who should be solving this. But she’d thought they’d gotten things right. She’d thought everything would be ok now and they could get on with leading their lives. Apparently not. Apparently she’s screwed up _again_ and now Sebastian’s in danger.

Quickly wiping her eyes, she knocks on the front door. Rob and Claire are the first step in getting this all sorted out.

Felipe opens the door.

“Britta?”

“Felipe,” Britta says. For some reason she hadn’t expected a child to open the door. “I need to speak to Rob and Claire.”

“They are not in,” Felipe says.

“It’s important.”

“They went out,” Felipe says. “I do not know where. They did not tell us.”

Britta squeezes her eyes shut. She cannot go back to Kimi and Sebastian empty handed. She told Kimi she would sort this and she is.

“Do you know when they will be back?”

“Late, I think,” Felipe says. “I do not know for sure. Is something the matter?”

Britta sighs then looks down at Felipe. He has to know what is going on at Ferrari. Kimi said he was involved. She cannot really go to a child for help but… if it means protecting Sebastian – no, protecting her _family_ now.

“It’s Ferrari,” she says.

 

“Tia Claire!” Bruno cries, grinning. “This is a surprise. Come in. Take your shoes off. _Somebody_ gets really fussy about it.”

The house is sat in the middle of a country estate, large enough for a few dozen power possessors to run around in. Though there are adults some place, it’s mostly the older ones looking out for the younger ones and a few assessors and family parents coming to check up on them every once in a while.

Surprisingly, it isn’t that messy inside. There’s a neat line of shoes that go all the way down the hallway which look like they’ve been arranged in size order, but that would be ridiculous. A deaf person would never have imagined a large group of power possessing children lived here practically unsupervised. A deaf person would not have been able to hear the shouting, or the music war that was occurring up the stairs, or the clatters, splats, and cries from other rooms.

“What brings you here then?” Bruno asks as Rob and Claire toe off their shoes and shove them towards the wall.

“Jean-Eric,” Claire admits. “Who would we speak to about…?”

“Him coming to live here?” Bruno finishes when Claire cannot. “Erm, I do not think there are any adults in at the moment. But I can talk if you want.”

“We would really rather speak to someone in charge,” Rob says, nervously.

“Does it sound like there is anyone in charge?” Bruno asks. “The only reason why it _looks_ like civilised live people here is because Nico P has this obsession with everything being neat and tidy.”

“I do not!” comes a voice from upstairs.

“It is ok,” Bruno says. “We can go someplace quiet and chat if you want. Is Jean-Eric here?”

“No,” Claire says. “Does he need to be?”

“Not really,” Bruno says. “Come on. Follow me.”

 

“How come you don’t speak much?” Susie asks, looking down at Jean-Eric. He’s walking alongside her, his arms swinging gently at his side and his eyes looking anywhere but Susie. She doesn’t blame him.

He shrugs. “I do not talk properly to anybody. Except Dan. But he is different.”

“Dan… the toy?” Susie asks, catching sight of the stuffed animal before Jean-Eric swings his hand away again.

He shakes his head. “Dan is my brother. But he’s not anymore. I mean, it is confusing. He is, but they say we are not. And he gave me this.” He waved the stuffed toy. “And I gave him my teddy. So we’re always with each other even when we are not. And we promised to look after the other until we are brothers again.”

Susie gulps and watches the teddy swing in Jean-Eric’s hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“It’s ok,” Jean-Eric says, quietly. “He is back now. And Dan understood what happened. He doesn’t blame me.”

Susie nods, but she can’t shake the awful feeling. She’s been so caught up in her own problems that she forgot Jean-Eric might have some of his own. She’s known all along she’s been being selfish, wanting things to stay her kind of right, but she hasn’t even considered Jean-Eric’s problems.

“I’m such an idiot,” she says, quietly.

“Yeah,” Jean-Eric says. “But it’s ok. You said sorry.”

They fall silent again. Susie doesn’t know what to say and the silence just seems right. It’s too cold for there to be anybody else about and the world is just there’s as they walk through the park. She usually comes here alone, or sometimes with Toto. It feels strange being here with anybody else, as if spending time with Jean-Eric doesn’t feel strange enough.

“Why are you speaking to me?” Susie asks, eventually.

Jean-Eric shrugs again. “I don’t know. Why did you speak to me?”

“I speak to everyone,” Susie says.

“No you don’t,” Jean-Eric says. “Not like that. I’ve seen you. You don’t talk to anybody. Not really. And they’re your family. But you spoke to me.”

“That was different,” Susie says, suddenly defensive. “I thought you couldn’t speak and you weren’t going to tell anybody.”

“I’m not,” Jean-Eric says. “Not if you don’t want me to. I spoke to you because you treated me differently.”

He smiles again and actually looks at Susie this time, blushing a little before turning back to the floor. Susie smiles back, but he isn’t looking anymore. Maybe having him around won’t be as bad as she thought.

 

“What did they do?” Britta asks.

“We are not allowed to say,” Felipe says. He can feel Britta watching him, even though he’s looking at the floor, and he hasn’t felt this uncomfortable since everything with Ferrari had happened.

“Why not?” Britta asks.

“The courts,” Felipe says. Rob had said at the time that the family had probably bribed them. Not only did they get away with what they had done, nobody was allowed to talk about it, as long as they _promised_ never to do it again. To be honest, he doesn’t mind that much. It is in the past now and he is moving on with his life, as is everyone else.

“That’s stupid,” Britta says.

“That is Ferrari,” Felipe says.

“Kimi thinks they’re going to hurt Sebastian,” Britta says. “I can’t let that happen, Felipe, so you need to tell me what happened so I can stop it happening again.”

“It will not happen again,” Felipe promises, although he has no idea why he’s so certain of that. “They are not allowed to. They are not allowed to do what they did again and we are not allowed to talk about what happened before. Those are the rules.”

“Do you really think they are going to follow the rules?” Britta asks. “If they are hurting children, I do not think they will care about the rules.”

“Yes, but what if they are following the rules?” Felipe says. “There is a small chance, but maybe they are. And then if I tell you what happened, they are allowed to do whatever they want. What happened last time hurt, you know? I cannot let them hurt my family again.”

“And I can’t let them hurt mine now,” Britta snaps. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. She’s arguing with a teenager. Deep breaths. “Sorry.”

“Is ok,” Felipe says. “It must be difficult, for sure. If you can find out that Ferrari are definitely doing it again, then we are able to tell you what happened.”

“But how do I know if they are doing it again if I do not know what happened before?” Britta asks. She’s just going around in circles and this isn’t helping.

Felipe shrugs. “I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

“No,” Britta says, standing. “No, it isn’t your fault. Thank you.”

 

One minute he had been fighting as quietly as possible with Jenson, the next, everything is black. Fernando cannot tell where he is or what happened. At first, he figures he’s been knocked out, but he can feel something against his wrists and a wall against his back. Something isn’t right here.

“Jenson!” he calls into the darkness. Jenson has to be here. He’d been fighting with Jenson and then… he doesn’t remember. Everything’s blank.

There’s a laugh from somewhere in the darkness and Fernando shudders. “Don’t worry. He’s here too. Jenson’s just a little busy at the moment. But you’ll see him soon enough.”

The voice makes Fernando cringe even before he realises who it is.

“No. You can’t do this. You are not _allowed_ to do this.”

“I think you’ll find I can do what I like,” the voice says. There’s a hand on his shoulder, but Fernando still cannot see a thing. “What did we say, Fernando? What did we agree? You weren’t supposed to tell anyone. It was you who broke the agreement, not us.”

“I did not tell anyone,” Fernando squeaks, but the hand on his shoulder squeezes harder. “Please. It is not Jenson’s fault.”

“You have a very short memory, Fernando,” the voice says and Fernando feels himself be dragged up. His eyes are still wide, trying to make out something, _anything_ in the darkness, but it isn’t working. “Kimi Räikkönen? At the assessment?”

“I did not say anything,” Fernando says, desperately. “I would not do anything. Let us go.”

“Don’t you want to see what we have planned, Fernando?” the voice asks. “Don’t you want to see what Jenson’s up to?”


	14. Well, That's Fine By Me

“There is a place here for every power possessor without a family,” Bruno says whilst he’s searching for paper work in a rather less organised office than the hall way downstairs. “But are you certain Jean-Eric does not belong with you? Some of the children…” Bruno sighs and falls into one of the chairs when he cannot find what he’s looking for. “Some of the children find it a little traumatising if they are “dumped” by people they consider their family.”

He doesn’t look at either of them as he says it, flicking through some sheets of paper on the desk beside him, but Claire feels her stomach roll. She knows she shouldn’t have given up on Bruno so easily, but she didn’t feel like she had a choice.

Rob misses the reference entirely, of course.

“He doesn’t want to be with us either,” he says. “We are pretty sure of this.”

“Well, that is good, at least,” Bruno says, finally finding what he was looking for and pulling it out from under a pile of sheets. He smiles when he looks up, but Claire doesn’t believe it. “You should not feel bad, then, for sending him here. It is good here. Like I said before, we have assessments now and we are working on making connections. They are not as strong as family connections, of course, but there are some power possessors who see an increase in their control whilst they are here. Most people see an increase in their control whilst they are here.”

Claire nods all the way through, but she can see Bruno trying to convince her this doesn’t make her a bad person, even though they both know what she did before was wrong.

“That’s great,” Rob says, but even he’s noticed how quiet Claire has gone. “So… what happens now?”

“You fill this out,” Bruno says, handing Rob the papers and trying not to look at Claire. “Then I wait for one of these mysterious adult people to show up, give it to them, and they phone you. It will probably be within the week. I cannot say for sure when.”

Rob fills out the form in silence, glancing up every couple of moments to make sure Claire is ok. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen her this pale before and knows they’re in for an argument as soon as they’re out of the door. This one won’t be one he starts laughing in the middle of, though. Something is wrong and he’s going to have to figure out what.

He hands over the forms when he’s done and Bruno dumps them on top of the pile.

“Right then,” he says. “That will be done as soon as possible and everyone can get back to where they belong.”

He stands and Rob follows suit. This time it’s Claire who’s left seating, staring into space.

“Claire?” Rob says, gently, shaking her shoulder a little. “Claire, are you alright?”

“Yeah,” Claire says, quickly, jumping up when she realises Bruno and Rob are standing. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry.”

She puts on a smile too and follows Bruno and Rob out of the room and back through the maze of noise into the front hall. Bruno is chatting away to Rob about the assessments and Claire is trying to listen, but not a word goes into her head. He sounds happy, though, she thinks.

“I’m sorry,” she blurts out when they reach the front hall. Bruno and Rob both turn to her, confused. “I never should have made you leave, Bruno, I’m sorry.”

“Tia Claire, it’s ok,” Bruno says, quickly, hugging Claire when she bursts into tears. “I did not mean… I did not mean _me_ before. I am fine. I am happy.”

Rob just stands there, one shoe on one shoe off, staring at them. He is definitely getting yelled at today.

“I am happy,” Bruno says again, smiling. He lets go of Claire, blushing when she smiles back and wipes her eyes.

“I really am sorry,” she says again.

“I know,” Bruno says with a shrug. “But things happen for the best, no? We are all happy now and that is all that matters.”

 

When Sebastian finally wakes up, Kimi makes him breakfast and tells him a bunch of lies about where Britta is. Maurizio still isn’t back yet, but Sebastian doesn’t even ask about that. He’s still not a part of the family in Sebastian’s mind and Kimi likes it that way.

He’s no idea what Britta can do but, for some reason, he’s fairly confident that he’s done the right thing. All this will be sorted out soon enough and they can get on with their lives.

“How are you feeling?” Kimi asks.

“Alright,” Sebastian says. “Why?”

“You were just in bed late,” Kimi points out. “And you had a nightmare last night.”

“Did I?” Sebastian says. He stops eating for a moment and tries to remember the nightmare, but there’s nothing there.

“You came into my room in the middle of the night and said you had a nightmare,” Kimi says. “Don’t you remember?”

“I did think it was weird I was in your room,” Sebastian says, slowly. He’s no memory of the nightmare.

“Seb, are you alright?” Kimi asks.

“I’m fine,” Sebastian says. “Are _you_ alright?”

“Sebastian, I think there is something going on,” Kimi says. He knows he shouldn’t, because Sebastian will have lots of questions and he doesn’t have any answers yet, but he does it anyway. “Something weird.”

“And that’s where Britta has gone?” Sebastian asks.

“No,” Kimi says. “Well, Britta might have gone to sort it out.”

“What’s going on?” Sebastian asks. Of course he asks.

“I’m not sure,” Kimi says. “But it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you don’t go off with Maurizio alone ok?”

“Why not?” Sebastian asks again.

“Because,” Kimi says. “Because I do not like him.”

“But he’s family,” Sebastian says.

“I don’t think he is, Seb,” Kimi says quietly. “But don’t… do not tell him this, ok? Do not tell anybody.”

“Not even Britta?”

“Not even Britta,” Kimi says. It’s easier that way. If Sebastian doesn’t talk about it, there’s less chance he’ll say it for Maurizio to overhear.

Sebastian frowns, but nods eventually. “I won’t go off with Maurizio,” he promises. “But what if he says he can make my powers better?”

“Then you come and tell me,” Kimi says. “Seb, promise me.”

“I promise,” Sebastian says, holding his hand over his heart. “I will come to tell you.”

Kimi can’t help but feel a little relieved. He knows it isn’t enough, but there isn’t much else he can do now. Britta is sorting it out. They’ll be safe soon.

When Britta returns, she doesn’t look as prepared as Kimi had hoped she would look. She doesn’t tell them to go upstairs and pack a bag. She doesn’t do anything. She hangs up her things and closes her eyes, letting out a long breath before putting on a warm smile.

“You’re up then, sleepy,” she says to Sebastian when he runs over. “Have you had breakfast?”

“Kimi made me some,” Sebastian says.

“Right then, you can go and brush your teeth and get dressed,” Britta says, ruffling Sebastian’s hair and getting a pout for the effort.

Sebastian runs up the stairs, trying to pat his hair back down into place. Britta sighs, closing the door after him.

“Is Maurizio in?” she asks.

“Not back yet,” Kimi says.

“Right.” Britta nods and tries to order her thoughts again. “Claire and Rob weren’t in.”

“You didn’t stay?”

“I spoke to Felipe,” Britta says. “He says they’re not allowed to tell anyone, or Maurizio and the others will be allowed to do what they did before again. And if I can find evidence that they’re already doing what they did before then he’s allowed to tell me what they were doing before.”

“But you don’t know what they were doing before,” Kimi says. “How can you get evidence if you do not even know what you are looking for?”

“I don’t know,” Britta says. “I’ll find a way, Kimi, don’t worry.”

 

When Claire and Rob arrive back at the house, they find a very confused Ron Dennis making his way to their front door. He’s checked everywhere he can think of and the boys are nowhere to be seen. Neither of them are answering their phones, either, and he’s worried now. Fernando’s glued to his phone and they’re either ignoring him (though what for, he can’t think of) or they’re in trouble. He just wants to check they’ve not come here.

“Can we help you?” Claire asks. She’s trying to get away from Rob and he knows it, but he isn’t going to stop here. There’s something wrong and Claire will tell him in her own time.

“I’m looking for Fernando and Jenson,” Ron says, watching Claire open the door and show him inside.

“Boys!”

Felipe and Valtteri come down the stairs immediately, both of them looking extremely guilty for some reason.

“What have you done?” Claire asks.

“Nothing,” Valtteri says, slowly. And they haven’t. But Susie and Jean-Eric are gone and neither of them heard them leave. The two of them aren’t grounded, of course, but god knows what Susie’s doing to him. This probably isn’t going to end well.

“Are Fernando and Jenson here?” Ron asks before the others can start a fight over something he doesn’t care about.

“No,” Felipe says. “They have gone missing?”

“I’m sure they will turn up,” Ron says, waving away the question. He’s no idea where to look now. They’re probably playing some stupid game and trying to wind him up, knowing them. He shouldn’t be getting so worried about it.

“We’ll let you know if they come here,” Claire says.

“Thank you.”

“Something is going on,” Felipe mutters to Valtteri as Claire offers Ron tea then, when he declines, shows him out.

“You don’t think…”

Felipe nods. Fernando’s broken the contract. Which means they’re all in trouble.

“Where’s Jean-Eric?” Rob asks.

“He went out,” Felipe says. He should be worried about him, but he isn’t anymore. They have more important things to be dealing with. “Rob?”

“Where is Susie?” Rob says.

“She went with him,” Felipe says. “Rob?”

Rob groans. A week. All they have to do is live together for a week. Maybe even less than that.

“Stay here, I’m going to get them.”

Rob leaves the boys sat on the stairs, Claire having disappeared into the kitchen to go and make tea.

“What are we going to do?” Valtteri asks.

Felipe shakes his head, trying to come up with something. They _have_ to do something.

“Tell Britta?”

“She will be back in Italy by now,” Valtteri says. “And how do we get there? We tell Rob and Claire.”

“Like they will believe us.”

“We tell them,” Valtteri insists. “And if they don’t believe us, then we figure something out.”


	15. Hey, Brother

Somewhere in the darkness, a door is opened, then slammed shut, and the lights finally flick on.

“Jenson!”

The room is smaller than Fernando imagined, like a large storage cupboard, only there isn’t anything stored in here. Just them. When Jenson doesn’t move, Fernando pushes himself up and goes over, his hands still bound behind his back.

“Jenson, please,” Fernando mumbles, the words a mess as they fall out of his lips. “Please be ok.”

Jenson doesn’t move, or open his eyes, or show any reaction. Fernando waits in silence for a couple of moment, gently nudging Jenson with his foot, but there’s still no reaction.

“This is all my fault, I am so sorry,” Fernando whispers. “Will get us out of this, ok?”

He’s no idea how. He can barely walk himself, his head spinning already, and he falls back onto the ground beside Jenson.

“Please be ok.”

Before – last time – Fernando was able to get Valtteri out of the strange state Ferrari had put him in, but now he can’t even be sure if that’s what’s happened to Jenson, or if he’s just passed out. Right this second, Fernando can’t tell which is worse. If he can just get his hands out of the handcuffs, he’ll be able to make sure Jenson is ok and bring him back to reality. If he could just…

“Jenson?”

“Fernando?” Jenson groans and brings his hands up to his face to rub his eyes. Fernando shuffles away, waiting to see how Jenson is. He’s alive though. That feels important. And here. “What’s going on?”

“I have screwed up,” Fernando says, quietly. “I am so, so sorry.”

 

“What do you think they’re going to do?” Jean-Eric asks, eventually. He’s wanted to ask for a while, but the quiet has been nice and he hasn’t wanted to ruin it.

“What do you mean?”

He takes a deep breath, trying to come up with a better way of explaining himself.

“What do you think Rob and Claire are going to do?” he asks. “Before, my old family looked everywhere for a place for me, and they couldn’t’ find one. There was only here. And now I don’t belong here, so what do you think Rob and Claire are going to do. They don’t want me here. Nobody does.”

“That’s not true,” Susie says, gently, even though it is and they both know it, so there’s little use denying it. “Ok, maybe, but that’s only because there’s no connection. It’s nothing you’ve done.”

“What if there’s never a connection?” Jean-Eric asks. “What if I never have a connection with anybody? Where will I go then?”

“I don’t know,” Susie says. “But Mum and Rob will figure something out. They always do.”

They’ve circled back around and are on their street when Rob comes out of the house to look for them. He’s about to rush off in the opposite direction when he spots the two children and hurries over instead.

“Are you ok?” he asks Jean-Eric, and Susie wonders why they have no idea why she’s angry when they are like this all the time.

Jean-Eric nods, back to his normal self. He’s holding Susie’s hand in one hand and Dan in the other.

“Right,” Rob says. “Come on, let’s get you inside.”

“Is there a problem?” Susie asks, Rob taking Jean-Eric’s hand from hers. “Rob? Is there a reason I can’t go for a walk with him. Neither of us are grounded. We weren’t breaking any rules.”

“Susie not now,” Rob says.

“Never,” Susie calls after him, marching behind them. “You’re never going to listen to what I have to say, are you?”

“Susie not now,” Rob says again.

“Fine,” Susie says, turning on her heel and marching off in the opposite direction. Jean-Eric stops and makes to go after her, but Rob pulls him towards the house.

“She’s always like this,” Rob says, gently. “Come on inside. It’s too cold out here.”

“Something is wrong,” Felipe says as soon as Rob is through the door.

Claire holds out her hands, no idea what the boys are talking about, but they had insisted it was important. Rob frowns and tells Jean-Eric to upstairs. Whatever this is about, he doesn’t need to hear it.

Valtteri’s sat at the kitchen table and Felipe nods for them to sit down too.

“Something is going on at Ferrari,” Felipe says.

 

Maurizio still isn’t back and it’s starting to worry Kimi a little bit. He’s like a spider: ok when you know where they are, but once they’ve disappeared…

Sebastian doesn’t seem to notice anything else is wrong. He carries on through the day with his toys and books and things, glancing over at Kimi and Britta every now and again. They’re talking, slowly. The conversations is broken with long pauses where neither of them know the answer to a question one has proposed. Sebastian doesn’t know what they’re talking about, but he’s pretty sure it’s Maurizio.

“We cannot just leave,” Kimi says. “Can we?”

He wants her to say they can. He wants her to say it’ll be tough, but she’ll be able to figure something out and they should both get a bag packed so they can run as soon as she’s ready.

But she just shakes her head. “No, we probably can’t.”

“Then what do we do?”

Britta sighs.

She doesn’t know. She really does not know if there even is something they _can_ do. But she can’t tell Kimi that.

Not that Kimi doesn’t already know.

“I will figure something out,” she promises. “Don’t worry.”

It will only make Kimi worry more.

“Maurizio!” Sebastian cries, excitedly, when he returns, making both Britta and Kimi spin around. Maurizio grins at the excitement, but Kimi can see how annoyed he is. Something is definitely going on. Whatever he’s been doing, it probably hasn’t been good for them and if he’s spent the entire day doing it, it has to be important, doesn’t it?

“So, you are finally awake!” Maurizio says. “Kimi said you had a nightmare?”

“I don’t remember it,” Sebastian says. “Kimi said I had one, but I don’t remember.”

Kimi nods when Sebastian turns to him for confirmation.

He knew the nightmare was something to do with all this. Why would Maurizio be bringing it up again if it wasn’t? He hasn’t told Britta this theory. He’d forgotten all about it until Maurizio mentioned it. Britta doesn’t seem to have picked up that there’s something strange about the interest, but Kimi cannot think of a way of pointing it out without attracting Maurizio’s attention.

“Are you alright, Kimi?” Maurizio asks, snapping the Finn out of his thoughts.

“Yeah,” Kimi mumbles. “Going to my room.”

Right now all he can think of doing is making sure Maurizio and the rest of the Ferrari minions don’t know something is wrong. All that will do is cause trouble for them, and possibly for the others too.

 

“Susie?” It’s Nico who answers the door and she shamefully wipes her eyes whilst he lets her in and calls for Toto. She doesn’t know why. They’ve seen her in much worse states than this.

She stands in the hallway whilst she waits for Toto to come down the stairs, trying to pull herself together because she shouldn’t be in this state.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Toto says gently, rushing down the stairs to put his arms around her and engulf her in a hug. Susie just bursts into tears, ignoring Nico and Lewis who are definitely watching from the living room. “What has happened?”

“They don’t listen to me and they never listen to me and even when I’m being nice they make out like I’m the bad guy,” Susie mumbles, her words muffled by the hug.

Toto rocks her gently, deciding it’s probably best she calms down before he asks her another question, and shoos Nico and Lewis away when they decide to come in to see what’s wrong. Sure, they’ve seen Susie in a state before, but they’ve never seen her like this.

“What’s wrong?” he asks again once Susie has calmed down a little.

“I… I don’t think… I don’t think I belong with Mum and Rob anymore,” Susie says, quietly.

The thought’s never occurred to her before. Why would it? There’s never been any doubt before. But now they have Jean-Eric, and they care about him more than her, and maybe she isn’t a Williams after all.

“And what has brought on these thoughts?” Toto asks, gently, leading Susie up the stairs and away from eavesdroppers.

Susie shrugs, not really sure she wants to explain it. Not being a Williams is the only clear thought in her head at the moment and she doesn’t want Toto to give her all the logical reasons that there are that this isn’t true.

“They don’t like me,” she says quietly.

“Well, I do not like Lewis,” Toto admits. “It does not mean he is not part of the family.”

“Don’t patronise me, Toto,” Susie warns, clumsily wiping her eyes again.

“I was not trying to,” Toto says, gently. “Look, it is not really as if you do not ask for these things. Taking Jean-Eric’s toy was not nice. And, when you do things that are not nice, it is no wonder why they are being funny with you.”

“They want Jean-Eric more than me,” Susie says. “And now nothing seems right to me.”

“Right,” Toto says slowly. “Remember Pastor.”

“Of course.”

“Do you think Valtteri felt like things seemed right then?” Toto asks.

“No,” Susie mumbles into her hand. She can see where this is going and she doesn’t like it. For once, just once, she wants to be upset about something and for Toto to tell her she should be upset. “This is different. Pastor was horrible to Valtteri, and Jean-Eric is doing nothing to me.”

“I know,” Toto says, his voice still gently. “But it is still the same. Jean-Eric is not part of your family and you feel that, better than the others do, by the sound of it.”

“And what if I really just don’t belong there?” Susie asks.

“You do.”

“But what _if_?”

“Then we will deal with that if we come to it,” Toto says.


	16. Do You Still Believe In One Another?

“Help!”

“Is no use,” Fernando says from the other side of the room. “Nobody here is going to help us.”

“Well it’s not really doing any harm, is it?” Jenson snaps, slamming his hands against the door and calling for help again. He knows Fernando is right, but he doesn’t know what else they can do, and he isn’t giving up.

“Am sorry for getting you into this,” Fernando says again. It must be the eighteenth time he’s said it, and Jenson still doesn’t know what exactly he’s gotten them into. He knows it’s bad though. Fernando wouldn’t get in this kind of state over nothing. He looks down at his little brother (little by a couple of months, Fernando would always add), still trying to figure out what’s wrong.

“You still haven’t told me what happened,” Jenson tries again.

And again, Fernando says what he’s said the last ten times Jenson’s pointed that out.

“I can’t.”

“Why not?” The conversation pans out just like it has before.

“Because.”

Fernando is still clinging to the hope they realise they’ve made a mistake. If he can convince them he never said anything to Kimi – and he doesn’t know how he can do that, but if he _can_ – he might be able to convince them to let him go, or let Jenson go at least. But if he’s said anything to Jenson, that’s only going to make things even harder.

“Because what, Nando?” Jenson snaps, sliding to the floor with his back to the door, temporarily giving up his escape attempt.

“Just because,” Fernando snaps back. He shuts his eyes, fighting again with the handcuffs behind his back, but it’s not use. “What did they do to you?” he asks quietly.

“Huh?”

It’s a new part of the conversation they haven’t rehearsed over and over again, and Jenson has no idea what Fernando is talking about.

“Before they brought you here, what did they do to you?” Fernando asks, his voice shaking. He needs to know, even if he doesn’t want to.

“Nothing,” Jenson says. “I woke up here. There was nothing before.”

“I was here for hours before they brought you here,” Fernando says. “Please, Jenson, what did they do?”

“I don’t know, I don’t remember,” Jenson says, running a hand through his hair whilst he thinks, but he doesn’t remember anything between fighting over Fernando’s phone back at the house and waking up here. “I don’t remember.”

Fernando nods to himself. Maybe they haven’t done anything to him. Maybe they were just trying to get him in a panic. He knows it’s unlikely, that it’s completely possible they knocked him out or gave him something that would make him forget, but Fernando didn’t want to believe that. They had not done anything to Jenson.

Jenson goes back to banging weakly on the door when Fernando doesn’t say anything and Fernando goes back to wishing he hadn’t been such an idiot.

 

“That won’t have happened,” Claire says, once they’ve listened to the boys’ theory. “You’re just being paranoid.”

“Really?” Felipe asks. “You are sure of this.”

“As sure as possible,” Claire says. “What would Ferrari want with Fernando and Jenson anyway? Even if they were doing what they did before, wouldn’t they want someone who didn’t know what they were doing?”

Felipe falls silent. That did make sense. But he’s sure. He’s sure they have Fernando and Jenson, because where else can they be?

“Stop worrying,” Claire says, laughing gently. “Ferrari aren’t going to do anything to them, or to us, or to anybody.”

“Britta thinks they’re going to do something to Sebastian,” Felipe says, suddenly remembering. If Ferrari do have Fernando and Jenson, and they can find evidence, then they’ll be able to tell Britta what happened. They’ll be able to tell anybody what happened.

Claire stops what she was about to say. “How do you-?”

“She came here whilst you were out,” Felipe says. “She was worried, but I couldn’t tell her what happened. I told her she would have to find proof. I did not tell her what happened, I promise.”

“Why would she come here?” Rob asks. Nobody knew about what really happened that night, except them and Fernando. And Ferrari, but he can’t see them telling Britta to come and ask them what happened. “Unless Fernando told her.”

 

“Kimi?”

Kimi looks up from where he’s doodling to see Sebastian hovering in the doorway. He looks nervous, smaller than he usually does.

“What’s wrong?”

“Maurizio wants me to go with him,” Sebastian says. “He says we’ll go after dinner. He says you should spend some time with Britta and we should leave you alone.”

He’s shaking, and Kimi sits him down on the edge of his bed.

“You cannot go with him.”

“I know,” Sebastian says. “That’s why I came to tell you. I told him I don’t want to go and he said I was being selfish. That I shouldn’t want to stop you and Britta being friends. And I don’t want to.”

“You’re not being selfish, Seb,” Kimi says, gently. “Where’s Britta? What did she say?”

“She’s not here,” Sebastian says. “She was but then she went out again. I don’t know where. Has she gone to sort this out?”

“I don’t know,” Kimi says. He can’t think of anywhere she would go. They hadn’t discussed going anywhere, and she might just be at the shops or something, but Kimi would like to think she would at least come and tell him if she was going anywhere. “Wait here, ok?”

“Where are you going?” Sebastian asks, quickly. “You can’t leave me alone, Kimi? What if he comes?”

“He won’t,” Kimi promises. “I am just going to speak to him to try to find out where Britta is.”

“But what if the monsters outside come?” Sebastian asked, his voice so small Kimi could barely hear him.

“There are no monsters outside,” Kimi says. His eyes still flick over to the window, though, as if there’s any chance there might be. There _isn’t_. He knows that. He’s already checked and there was nothing there.

“There are always monsters there,” Sebastian says, crawling to the top of the bed so he can sit under the covers even though it’s the middle of the afternoon and too hot to be under the covers anyway. He looks over at the window too and Kimi feels a shiver run down his spine.

“There’s nothing there,” he says, going over to the window just to prove this point.

Again there’s the feeling of dread as he looks out the window, because he doesn’t know what he’ll do if there is something outside. But there isn’t. There are a couple of kids at the end of the lane kicking a football between them, but that’s it.

“There’s nothing there,” he says, pointing.

“You don’t see it,” Sebastian says from under the covers, the top blanket pulled over his head so he doesn’t have to see anything.

 

“How long have we been here for?” Jenson asks.

He’s given up calling for help. They haven’t heard anything from anyone since he arrived, not even to tell them to shut up or stop the banging.

Fernando shrugs. “I do not know.”

“Do you think Ron has noticed we’re missing yet?” Jenson asks.

“He has to,” Fernando says. “We disappeared into thin air. Where will he think we have gone?”

Ron won’t know what’s happened though and it isn’t him Fernando hopes will notice they’re missing. If Kimi is still trying to contact him, like they had been before Jenson had stolen his phone, he’ll notice Fernando’s stopped replying and _hopefully_ he’ll have figured out what’s going on. It seems pretty unlikely though.

“They can’t keep us here forever,” Jenson mutters, no answer to Fernando’s question.

“Would rather be here than wherever else they have planned,” Fernando says.

At least here he is in control of his own mind, and, as far as he can tell, so is Jenson. He doesn’t know if Ferrari are going to try to do the same thing to them as they did before, but he can’t imagine anything worse and that’s what he’s planning for.

“And what have they got planned?” Jenson asks, but he knows he isn’t going to get a reply from his brother. He leans against the wall and closes his eyes. “I hope it’s dinner.”

Fernando can’t help but laugh. “I hope it’s dinner too.”

 

“Where is Britta?”

Maurizio looks up from the work he’s doing, surprised to see Kimi come down from his room. He smiles but, as always, Kimi doesn’t return the smile. He’s used to the Finn’s moods now, and doesn’t bother to question it.

“She went out, I think,” he says with a small shrug. Britta’s whereabouts aren’t much of a concern to him. She is playing her part of mother nicely enough. Maurizio doesn’t worry about her. “Why?”

“You told Sebastian I should spend more time with her,” Kimi says. “But I spend plenty of time with Britta. I never spend any time with you, though.”

Kimi has no real plan to how this will go. He just knows he can’t let Sebastian go with Maurizio by himself. He’s hoping he’ll be able to figure out what he’s going to do when the time comes. It’s not something he’s good at but it’s the only plan he has.

“You do not spend much time with anyone,” Maurizio points out. This is probably one of the longest conversations he’s had with the Finn since he’d taken on the role of parent, and Kimi is beginning to worry him a little. When he’d started the job, he’d been told Kimi would be nothing to worry about and, to begin with, he wasn’t. But now something has changed.

“Sebastian says you are taking him out,” Kimi says. “And maybe I would like to go too.”

“You?” Maurizio laughs. Surprised would be an understatement. “You want to come out. With us?”

“Why not?” Kimi asks. He knows why not, but it would be interesting to see what excuses Maurizio would be able to come up with. How would they compare to Marco’s before him? Those lies had been blatantly obvious, but Kimi had gone along with them because why not? Now things were different though

“We are all getting along happily here, Kimi,” Maurizio says with a sigh, turning back to his work and waving Kimi away. The child is trying to rock the boat and Maurizio isn’t sure if it’s because he’s bored or because he wants the boat to sink, but he knows he’s not going to rise to it. “Do not ruin that.”

“He’s not going with you alone,” Kimi warned, only more annoyed by the fact Maurizio was ignoring him now.

“I never had you down as the jealous type, Kimi,” Maurizio says, not looking up from what he is doing. Yes, he’s definitely trying to make the boat sink. He’s going to have to have a word with someone at the labs about this. “It does not suit you. If you would like to come with Sebastian and me later, if you would like, but I do not know what you are expecting.”


	17. Hey sister

“I think there’s someone coming,” Jenson says, pausing from his banging and shouting to listen.

Fernando just rolls over and tries not to think about how hungry he is or how uncomfortable it is to try to sleep with your hands tied behind your back. He closes his eyes tight, trying to ignore the next round of Jenson’s banging.

When he hears the footsteps, though, he sits up.

There is definitely someone coming.

“Come away from the door,” Fernando says, struggling to stand without using his hands.

“Why?” Jenson asks.

“Because nobody here is going to be coming to get us for any good,” Fernando says, leaning against the wall to stop himself falling over. He doesn’t know which he would prefer: being left alone here forever or for someone who worked for Ferrari to come to see them.

“Don’t be such a pessimist,” Jenson says. Somehow, and Fernando really doesn’t know how, he manages to grin.

“Am not being a pessimist,” Fernando says. “Am being a realist.”

Curiosity gets the better of him though, and he comes over to stand beside Jenson and wait for whoever is coming down the hall to open the door.

“We could always make a run for it if it’s one of the bad guys,” Jenson suggests, still grinning.

“Do not think we would be able to make it,” Fernando mutters.

“Ah, what’s the worst that could happen?” Jenson asks.

This isn’t some game, Fernando wants to tell him. They are in serious trouble and Fernando has come to face the fact that they’re probably going to end up in one of the sick experiments or dead, but he hasn’t told Jenson this yet. And, as much as he wants his brother to take this seriously, he isn’t going to tell him, either.

“Please do not get hurt, Jenson,” Fernando says quietly instead.

The footsteps stop outside the door and they both wait, holding their breaths, for whoever’s outside to open the door. Fernando watches Jenson, hoping he doesn’t run. If he runs, this is going to end badly, he knows it.

The door opens inwards and they have to shuffle back a couple of steps so that it can be opened properly. Jenson is ready to run as soon as possible, but he stops when he sees who is at the door.

“Britta?”  


Once she’s calmed down a little, Susie agrees to eat something and go home. Whilst it still is home. She wants to believe what Toto was saying, but she just can’t. He doesn’t understand, and she knows she sounds like a brat for saying that, but he doesn’t.

Toto is walking back with her to make sure she doesn’t take a detour and actually ends up at the right house.

“It will be ok,” he says, wrapping his arm around her to keep the cold from her as they walk. “You are too special for it to not be ok.”

“Tell Rob and Claire that,” Susie mutters, resting her head against Toto’s arm as they walk.

Toto sighs and rubs Susie’s arm to try to keep her walk. She didn’t have a coat with her when she arrived at the house and he doesn’t know how many times he’s told her that it’s too cold to be out without a coat but she never listens, usually saying something about having Scottish genes.

“Things will work out,” Toto promises again.

“And if they don’t?” Susie asks, like she must have asked a million times before. She can’t help it. No matter what Toto said, the question is still whizzing around in her head. She has nowhere else to go.

“If they don’t we will work something out,” Toto says, like he has done the last million times.

He doesn’t know how many times he has to say that before Susie will believe him. But they will definitely sort things out.

They walk on a little while in silence, because Toto doesn’t know what else to say and Susie will only ask what will happen if things don’t work themselves out, and she’s got a feeling Toto is going to get annoyed at that at some point. She knows he has his own problems to deal with and life is not as blissfully calm in the Mercedes household as he would like to make out. She knows he should be sorting those problems out instead of walking her home, dragging her bag of problems behind him. But he’s here. And she’s thankful for that. She just doesn’t really know how to say it.

“Now you,” Toto brings them to a stop outside the gate, kissing Susie’s forehead. “Stay here.”

Susie rolls her eyes but can’t stop herself from smiling anyway.

“I will phone you later, ok?”

“Ok.”

“Go inside,” Toto says, letting go of Susie’s hands.

“I will.”

Toto waits until she’s gone inside, wanting to actually make sure she’s there, before leaving.

 

“What are you doing here?” Britta asks.

Fernando stares at her, not entirely sure if he should trust her or not. Kimi does, but he’s not here right now. Kimi had thought nobody would find out about their conversation and that hadn’t turned out to be true, so why should he trust his judgement on Britta? She was part of Ferrari and could not be trusted.

“They – someone took us,” Jenson says, none of Fernando’s uncertainty. “We don’t know who. Well, _Fernando_ does.”

“Fernando?” Britta looks past Jenson to Fernando, who has shrunk back to the other side of their cell. “Do you know what’s going on?”

Fernando shakes his head quickly.

“Yes you do,” Jenson says. “But he won’t tell me. Won’t let me help. Wants to play the hero.”

“Am not playing the hero though, am I?” Fernando says.

“Have you come to get us out?” Jenson asks.

“I…” She hasn’t. Or, at least, she never planned on this. She hadn’t really thought she would find anyone else here and the discovery has thrown off her plans to find out what’s going on here.

“Fernando, you need to tell me what’s happening.”

“I do not know,” Fernando lies.

“Fernando,” Britta says, coming inside a little way so she can speak to the Spaniard. “Fernando you need to tell me what’s going on so I can help.”

“You work for them,” Fernando says.

“No, no I don’t,” Britta says, softly, resting a hand gently on Fernando’s shoulder. “I’m just trying to look after Sebastian and Kimi and if someone is trying to hurt them, you need to tell me.”

Fernando looks between Jenson and Britta whilst they both wait for him to speak. If she really can help…

“Someone’s coming,” Jenson says, suddenly, moving away from the door. “If we make a run for it…”

It’s too late. Fernando comes a little closer to the door, but the footsteps are too close for them to be able to run. Jenson closes the door over so there’s just a crack which they can see through and they all wait for the footsteps to pass.

“It will be ok,” Britta whispers, feeling Fernando shaking beside her. “I am not going to let them hurt you, it will be ok.”

The footsteps stop outside the door.

 

When Susie comes in, the house is silent. She waits in the hall way for Claire to come in and moan at her or for Rob to try to get her involved with another family activity, but nobody comes in. Felipe and Valtteri aren’t sat on the stairs and she’s no idea where to even expect Jean-Eric to be.

“Hello?”

They’ve all gone out. It doesn’t really surprise her. They can all go off and play happy families together. She doesn’t care. So much for Felipe and Valtteri trying to help her. They’ll probably be happy she’s gone too.

Susie heads upstairs, muttering to herself as she does so. She can’t think where they’ve all gone, but she bets it’s better than here. She bets they’re having fun.

At the top of the stairs, something makes her pause. There’s a small sob from Jean-Eric’s room and Susie freezes.

Jean-Eric looks up at her through tear filled eyes when he feels her watching him, then looks away again and brings his knees up to his chest.

“What’s wrong?” Susie asks, standing just outside the room. “Where are the others?”

_Claire and Rob went out to find Fernando. They told us to stay here but Felipe and Valtteri didn’t want to so they went too._

“How… how did you do that?”

He hadn’t moved his lips. He hadn’t _spoken_.

“Sorry,” Jean-Eric mumbles.

“Did you just…?”

Jean-Eric nods and looks up, wiping his eyes again. “I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s ok,” Susie says, coming in to sit down beside Jean-Eric. It isn’t really ok, but it isn’t an important issue at the moment. She’s more concerned about what is so important Felipe and Valtteri would leave Jean-Eric by himself in this state. “Why are you upset, then?”

“They’re scared and I don’t know why,” Jean-Eric says.

“Scared?”

Jean-Eric nods. “I don’t know what about. Rob told me to go upstairs, so I did.”

“Did Valtteri or Felipe say anything?” Susie asks.

Jean-Eric shakes his head, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to stop crying.

“Hey, it’s going to be fine,” Susie says, putting her arm around Jean-Eric. “They’ll be back soon enough. They like to get scared over nothing. Where’s Dan, hey?”

Dan is sat a little way down the bed and Susie picks him up when she finds him, sitting him on Jean-Eric’s lap.

“That’s better,” she says. “You don’t look right without Dan.”

“Thank you,” Jean-Eric says, quietly, but she hasn’t made it any better. Claire and Rob and Felipe and Valtteri are still all in trouble.

“Come downstairs,” Susie says. “I’ll make some tea and we can raid the biscuit tin and blame it on Felipe and Valtteri, yeah?”


	18. Do You Still Believe In Love I Wonder?

Maurizio, Sebastian, and Kimi have gone for a walk. They aren’t going up to the building on top of the hill, like Kimi had thought they would be going to, but he’s sure that’s only because he’s there. It doesn’t matter why, though, as long as they’re not going.

It would have been impossible for Maurizio to not notice how quiet Sebastian has done. He isn’t bobbing along at Maurizio’s side, or running ahead like he has been since he moved in with them. He falls back, walking somewhere between the parent and his older brother, and, even though Maurizio could feel the younger boys eyes on the back of his head, when he looks around Sebastian is looking at his feet.

“Where are we going?” Kimi asks. He’s bored of this now, but he isn’t going to let Maurizio lure him into a false sense of security.

“I don’t know,” Maurizio called back. “Just for a walk. You can head back, if you’re bored.”

“I’m bored!” Sebastian pipes up, but Maurizio ignores him.

“It is good that we are all spending time together,” he says. “Not just stuck inside the house all day. Maybe we should all do this more often.”

“With Britta?” Kimi suggests, trying to see how far Maurizio will go with this. He doesn’t know how far he can push him, but is willing to experiment and find out.

“If she would like to come too,” Maurizio says.

“I want to go home now,” Sebastian complains. “It’s getting cold.”

“Yeah,” Kimi mutters, even though his version of cold is far from the cool, Italian evening. “I can walk Sebastian home if you want to stay out though.”

“No, I think maybe we should go in,” Maurizio says. “Next time we’ll go earlier, hey, Seb?”

Sebastian doesn’t answer, sticking to Kimi’s side the entire journey home.

 

Britta is woken by a concerned Sebastian jumping on her. She _was_ asleep, on the sofa back home when Sebastian and the others returned. It feels as if her head has been split in two and, before saying anything, she goes to get some pain killers from the kitchen.

She’s not entirely sure how she ended up on the sofa. The last thing she remembers is telling Maurizio she was going out and that was hours ago.

Kimi follows her into the kitchen, muttering something about being hungry and shuts the door behind him.

“Well?”

“Well what, Kimi?” Britta asks, filling up a glass of water to take the tablet. She’s still half asleep and doesn’t have the concentration to be focusing on it.

“Did you go to get evidence?” Kimi asks.

“I didn’t find anything. I didn’t go out,” Britta says, even though it doesn’t really make sense to her. Why didn’t she go out? But she couldn’t have. She would have remembered.

“You did,” Kimi says, confused. “Maurizio said you did.”

“Oh, and we are believing him now?” Britta laughs, but it hurts her head so she stops. “Please, I need to go back to bed, I think.”

“But what about-?”

“ _Enough_ Kimi,” Britta snaps, her eyes barely open as she makes her way back out of the kitchen. “Just… just keep an eye on Sebastian, ok? They cannot do anything to him whilst there is someone watching him.”

“I thought you were sorting this out,” Kimi says, trying to keep his voice under control. He’s angry. Why isn’t she doing anything? They can’t leave it much longer. The longer Sebastian is here, the more likely they are to do something to him.

“I am,” Britta says. “But it is late, and I am going to bed. Goodnight.”

 

“Kidnapped?”

It’s clear by the look on Ron’s face that he doesn’t believe them. The more Rob thinks about what he’s about to say, the stranger it sounds, but there’s a chance it’s true. And, if it is true, then Ron needs to know.

“Yes.”

“By the Ferrari family?”

“Yes.”

He looks between them again and Rob can see him clearly questioning their sanity. Thankfully, Ron decides, for whatever reason, to humour them.

“Why?”

It’s the obvious question and Claire and Rob have been going over it on the way to see Ron, running over what they are and aren’t allowed to say because, if Ferrari turn out to be innocent, they’re going to be in a huge pile of trouble. They _think_ they’ve come up with an answer though.

“Fernando knows a secret,” Rob says. “About Ferrari.”

“So they’re trying to keep them quiet?” Ron asks.

“Something like that,” Claire says. It’s not too far away from the truth, but it’s a far enough distance for them to be safe saying it, they’ve judged.

“What is it?” Ron asks, still sceptical. “This secret?”

“We don’t know,” Rob lies.

“You must have some idea,” Ron says. “Otherwise you wouldn’t think it was serious enough to kidnap children over. What could be so serious they have to kidnap children over?”

“We really don’t know,” Rob lies. “He told Felipe it was something serious and that’s the only way we know about it.”

“Let me speak to him.”

“It’s no use,” Claire says. “We’ve tried that and Felipe doesn’t know anything else.”

“They are my sons and they are missing,” Ron says. “I’ve already lost Fernando once before, I am not doing it again.”

“ _If_ Ferrari does have them,” Rob says, and he knows he’s pushing the limit here, but he needs to help. “I’ve an idea where they would be.”

 

“You. Are. In-sane,” Valtteri tries again, trying to get his brother to come home. “What are you going to do? Pop up there like you did with me? We were lucky that time. You _know_ this. Just let Claire and Rob try to sort it out.”

“I cannot just abandon him, Valtteri,” Felipe says, on his way to the Mercedes house. “Without him, we would not have been able to rescue you, would we?”

“Yes, and I know this,” Valtteri says again. “Does not change the fact that this is a suicide mission.”

“I cannot just sit back and let Rob and Claire sort this,” Felipe says, shaking the hand Valtteri has placed on his shoulder off. “They will not do anything. You know this. They will to and fro and try to stay _safe_ but they will do nothing to help him.”

He knows it. They like to speak to other adults and try to look like they’re helping, but they’re not. They’re not doing anything. So that leaves it up to him. He’ll go to get Lewis to take him to the labs like they did last time and he’ll get Fernando and Jenson out, somehow. He knows there’ll be more security this time around, but he has better control over his power now. Still not _perfect_ but better, and that will help, he’s sure.

“I am not going to let you kill yourself, Felipe,” Valtteri says. Not again, he thinks.

“Then come with me,” Felipe suggests. “I am not giving up, Valtteri, so either you are coming with me and helping or I am doing this by myself. It is up to you.”

“Fine,” Valtteri snaps. “I will help. But only so you do not end up in the same place as them.”

 

As soon as Fernando wakes up he knows where he is. Everything else in his head is fuzzy and unfocused and all he can focus on is the knowledge of where he is. He’s no control over his body, his mind misplaced a little to the left and not properly connected. As hard as he tries to see around him, he can’t force his eyes to do what he wants them to do. He just needs to know if Jenson is here…

“Calm down,” somebody out of sight says. “You’ll just hurt yourself, struggling like that.”

It doesn’t calm Fernando down at all and he’s immediately trying to see where the voice is coming from, but none of his senses want to work together and everything comes in as a soupy mess.

“We’re not going to hurt you, Fernando, don’t worry.”

“Where’s Jenson?” Fernando struggles out the words. It’s harder work than it should be, even in the state he’s in.

“Jenson’s safe and sound, don’t worry.”

“If you… if you do anything to him…” Fernando warns, but he’s cut off by a laugh – the same laugh again – and if it were possible he’d screw his eyes closed, but it isn’t.

“I do not really think you’re in a position to make threats, Fernando,” comes the voice. “Not when I could just do this.”

Ice cold fingers tap on his temple and pain shoots through Fernando’s head and down his neck in an instant. The cold laugh comes again after Fernando’s short cry of pain and Fernando wants to cringe, but can’t.

“Thought you said you weren’t going to hurt me,” he says.

“So I did,” the voice says. “Maybe I can’t be trusted after all.”

“You cannot do this,” Fernando says again. And he’ll say it again and again until someone listens to him, because they _can’t_.

“It seems I already am,” the voice says, accompanied by another quick tap to the head that makes it feel as if his brain has melted and is now seeping out through his ears. “You shouldn’t have told Kimi what you did, Fernando. You shouldn’t have said anything and you wouldn’t be here. You and your brother would be at home, safe and sound. But now… I guess you were asking for it, really.”

“Did not tell Kimi anything,” Fernando mumbles.

“That’s not what we heard,” the voice says.

“It is the truth,” Fernando says. He tries to put effort into his voice but it doesn’t come through and just makes his throat sore.

“That is _not_ what we heard,” the voice says again. There’s a finger pressed against Fernando’s temple again and he waits for the pain to shoot through him once more but it doesn’t come. “Tell us what you said, Fernando. Exactly what you said.”

“I did not say -.”

Of course the pain comes. It’s like tiny electric shocks throughout his body. Small enough alone but together is a different story.

“I did not say much,” Fernando says.

“What _did_ you say?”


	19. So Wake Me Up When It's All Over

They’re almost home when Claire gets the call from Toto. When he turned into a responsible adult, she doesn’t know, but she’s grateful that he has and they turn the car around to head to the Mercedes house. They’ve done all they can. Ron knows what’s going on and it’s down to him to look after his own family, not them.

“Come _on_ Felipe,” Rob tries, dragging the teenager from the house. It’s clear to see who’s more committed to the idea, Valtteri already sat in the car but Felipe refusing to leave.

“I was trying to stop him,” Valtteri tells Claire whilst they wait for Rob to deal with Felipe.

“Why would you even think about doing something so stupid?” Claire demands once Felipe is in the car.

He doesn’t reply to her, looking purposefully out the window and ignoring anybody who tries to speak to him. Claire rolls her eyes as she pulls away from the Mercedes house. Now she’s going to have to deal with Susie _and_ Felipe when they get back, and she’d much rather not.

“We know you were just trying to help,” Rob says. “But there’s nothing you can do. Do you really think you can just go to the labs and get him out?”

Felipe doesn’t reply and even his thoughts are quiet, which worries Rob a little.

“You got lucky last time,” Rob says. “Extremely lucky. And that won’t happen again.”

“Ron knows what’s going on now,” Claire adds. “He’ll sort this out.”

“You told him?” Valtteri asks. “You mean they could come after us now?”

“We didn’t tell him what happened,” Rob promises. “Just that Ferrari have the boys. You have nothing to worry about.”

“What if they come after us anyway?” Felipe asks. “If Fernando spoke, and Britta came to us, they might think we told her more. And then they come for us?”

“So you would rather we hand ourselves over to them,” Valtteri mutters.

“Shut up,” Felipe says, folding his arms. He’s beginning to understand how Susie feels. “You do not understand. None of you do.”

“Felipe, we know you were just trying to help, but it isn’t worth risking your life over,” Rob says, gently.

“You do not _understand_ ,” Felipe says again. “You just do not. And I cannot explain. But I need to help Fernando.”

“And you have,” Rob says as the car pulls up back outside their house. “Or as best you can. Now you need to leave it to the people who know what they are doing.”

“To Ron?” Felipe asks, refusing to get out of the car. “He does not even know what is really going on. How is he going to help, do you think?”

Valtteri rolls his eyes. Usually he’d be the first one to defend his brother’s actions, but now even he can’t deny Felipe is being stupid. Because they can’t really do anything more than Ron can do, and Ferrari or some authority is more likely to listen to Ron than they are to them. They’re lucky even Rob and Claire listened to them, if he’s honest with himself.

Valtteri heads inside, deciding it’s better to just leave Felipe to see sense in his own time. Rob and Claire don’t seem to agree.

“We are just trying to look after you Felipe,” Rob says. “Do you remember last time? We couldn’t be sure if either of you were going to live. And yes, we are sorry for what has happened. It is a terrible thing. But there is not anything we can do about it. And if you go there now, you’ll just end up in the same situation as you did last time. Maybe worse. We came so close to losing you, Felipe. We cannot let that happen again.”

“But Fernando…”

“Fernando has Ron,” Claire says. “And, if it were you in there, I am sure he would be trying to do the same, yes. But Ron wouldn’t let him. And you wouldn’t want him to, would you?”

Felipe mumbles something he knows Claire will be able to hear about not having to be right all the time. Claire ignores it though and smiles gently.

“If he isn’t here by tomorrow night, we’ll go to speak to Ron again, alright?”

It’ll have to do, Felipe reasons, so he just nods and follows Valtteri inside.

 

Fernando isn’t sure how long it’s been when he wakes up again, but he’s back in the cell with Jenson standing over him. He aches all over, but he’s in control of his own body and it’s enough of a relief to make him cry.

“What happened?” he mumbles, sitting up and wincing at the pain.

Jenson brings him a glass of water they left with him and Fernando doesn’t think twice about drinking it, even though he knows he should.

“I don’t know,” Jenson says. “They took Britta away, then you. You’ve been gone hours. I didn’t know what to do.”

“We have to get out,” Fernando says, turning back to the door. He tries it even though he knows it’s locked and, unsurprisingly, the handle doesn’t budge.

“You are ok, aren’t you mate?” Jenson asks, standing just behind Fernando and trying to make sure his brother’s ok.

“I’m fine,” Fernando lies, because now he’s stood up, he does feel a little dizzy. He’s sure that will pass though. “They just asked me some questions. They weren’t making any sense and I couldn’t help them.”

“So they’re going to let us go,” Jenson asks

“No.”

“What aren’t you telling me, Nando?” Jenson demands. “I can’t do anything unless you tell me about what’s going on. Why are we in this mess? And don’t tell me you don’t know because I know you do. You were about to tell Britta before they came in. Tell me.”

Fernando shakes his head. He’s not entirely sure why he’s keeping it from Jenson, but the information isn’t going to help him and Fernando’s got the feeling that the less people who know about what happened before the better. He sinks to the floor in front of the door, leaning against it with his eyes closed.

“Are you sure you’re ok?” Jenson asks, sitting beside Fernando. “Nando, look at me. Open your eyes.”

“I am _fine_ ,” Fernando insists, but he doesn’t open his eyes. They’re too heavy and he’s too tired.

“Fernando, open your eyes,” Jenson says, trying to keep the panic from his voice. He moves a little closer to Fernando, nudging him with his elbow until his brother opens his eyes to glare at him. “Tell me what they did to you.”

“It was nothing,” Fernando insists, already feeling his eye lids drooping again. He’s certain this isn’t because of them though. He knows what they did to him and it can’t cause this… can it? No. No, it must be something else. He’s just tired.

“If you don’t want to tell me for yourself, tell me for me,” Jenson says. He won’t stop prodding Fernando. He’s not going to let him fall back asleep.

“For you?” Fernando asks, confused.

“What if they take me off and do the same to me?” Jenson asks. “I need to know how to prepare myself. Tell me what they did.”

“They won’t do that. I won’t let them.”

“You can barely keep your eyes open,” Jenson says, nudging Fernando again. “You’ll be little use against someone trying to take me away. Tell me what happened.”

“Couldn’t move,” Fernando mumbles. “They…” He doesn’t really know how to explain it. Jenson doesn’t know about his powers, what he does. They’re better off that way. “They got inside my head and stopped things working the way they should.”

“Right,” Jenson says, slowly, but it’s clear he doesn’t understand. “And how do I stop them?”

“You can’t,” Fernando says. He’s pretty sure – no, he _knows_ – there’s no way out once you’re under. “You can’t stop them. You can’t do anything.”

“There’s got to be some way,” Jenson says, but he doesn’t sound hopeful.

Fernando shakes his head. “Is no way out. We’re theirs.”

 

They’ve been in bed hours but neither of them are asleep. Valtteri lies with his eyes closed, not even trying to sleep anymore, because all Felipe’s tossing and turning and huffing will keep him awake even if he does try. He is _not_ going to ask what’s wrong, though. He knows what’s wrong and he knows all the tossing and turning and huffing are just an attempt to try to get him into another conversation about it, and it isn’t happening.

But if he doesn’t go to sleep soon…

“Tortay?” Valtteri asks, giving in.

“I know Ferrari have them,” Felipe says.

“Yes, and Ron is sorting it out,” Valtteri says, his eyes still closed. He hopes that will be the end of it but he knows it won’t be.

“What if he hasn’t believed us?” Felipe asks, rolling back over to face Valtteri.

“He has,” Valtteri says. When he opens his eyes he finds Felipe watching him. He sits up, knowing there’s no use trying to get to sleep anymore, and flicks the light on. “Tomorrow night, Felipe, that’s all you have to wait for.”

“Will be too late by then,” Felipe says. “They could have done all sorts to them by then. I cannot wait until then.”

He gets out of bed and Valtteri watches him, rolling his eyes. “Will go to see Lewis now? Am pretty sure they will all be in bed, so it will be no use. And I am not going with you. Are just going to end up getting caught and being another problem for us to solve.”

“At least I’m trying,” Felipe says, struggling to get dressed in his half asleep state.

“You are not trying,” Valtteri says. “Doing something you know will fail is not trying. It is attempting to _look_ like you are trying and taking the moral high ground. It will help Fernando and Jenson no more than if you stay in bed.”

“It could work,” Felipe protests. “Who are you to say it won’t?”

“Someone who is going to go to sleep,” Valtteri says, sinking back into the bed. “Are you going to ask me to lie to Rob and Claire about where you’ve gone, or are they alright to know.”

“Will be back by morning,” Felipe says, pulling on his shoes and leaving the room.

Valtteri just closes his eyes and hums in agreement. He’ll be back before an hour, Valtteri thinks. There’s no way he’s going to be able to get to Italy at this time of night.

 

Sebastian climbs into Kimi’s bed again, less than ten minutes after Kimi has gone to bed, curling up against the older boy.

“I had another nightmare,” he whispers.

“What was it about?” Kimi asks, all thought of sleep gone, _again_.

“Don’t remember,” Sebastian says.

“You have to remember, Seb,” Kimi says. “Try hard. See if you can remember.”

Kimi can actually see the concentration on his little brother’s face whilst he tries to remember what he dreamt about, but after a couple of minutes Sebastian just shakes his head and wriggles closer to Kimi.

“Don’t remember.”

Kimi sighs and gets out of bed, taking Sebastian with him. Without any explanation, he takes Sebastian out of his room and into the younger boy’s bedroom.

“What’s the matter?”

“What do you see outside?” Kimi asks, taking Sebastian by the hand to the window. The street seems deserted to him. It’s too late for anybody to be out, and hardly anybody comes this way during the day. Sebastian peers over the edge of the window sill, a little scared of what he might see.

“Nothing,” he says, confused. “There’s nothing there.”

“See,” Kimi says. “Nothing to worry about.”

“There’s usually something there,” Sebastian asks. “Why aren’t they there? Why can’t I see them?”

“There’s nothing there,” Kimi says.

“There _is_ ,” Sebastian insists. “I just can’t see them. Why can’t I see them?”

He sounds more scared than confused and, at first, Kimi has no idea why. Even if there _are_ monsters outside, why would it be a bad thing that Sebastian can no longer see them? But seeing the things that aren’t there – or aren’t there to Kimi and the others anyway – is Sebastian’s non-phys. And if that isn’t working…

“Did you go with Maurizio?” Kimi asks.

“No.”

“Sebastian, you have to tell me if you did,” Kimi says.

“I only went the one time you came and found us,” Sebastian says, tears in his eyes. “I haven’t I promise.”

Kimi isn’t sure whether he should believe him or not, but it’s too late to have the discussion now and Sebastian is clearly tired.

“Come on,” he says, taking Sebastian back to his room. “No more nightmares, alright?”


	20. When I'm Wiser And I'm Older

Felipe is asleep on the sofa when Valtteri comes down in the morning. He gives him a nudge to wake up him before going to get breakfast. There’s nobody else up yet. It’s early, but Valtteri couldn’t sleep. He’s still worried about sleeping alone, in case the dreams come back. It’s been months since he had the dream, but the thought of it still scares him.

“You saw sense then?” Valtteri asks when Felipe comes into the kitchen in search of food.

“Nobody was up,” Felipe says.

“I told you so,” Valtteri says. “But you did not listen. Stubborn git.”

“I’m going today,” Felipe says. “After food.”

“I will tell you what I told you last night,” Valtteri says. “You will not be helping. Just making more of a mess for everyone else to clean up.”

“Then what do you suggest I do?” Felipe asks. “And do not say “leave it to Rob and Claire” or “leave it to Ron” because you know as well as I do that that is rubbish and they will not to anything.”

Valtteri shrugs. “Wait until tonight.”

“I cannot do that.”

“Well, that is up to you,” Valtteri says. “But I may have already text Lewis to tell him not to take you anywhere.”

“You didn’t.”

“Maybe,” Valtteri says.

Felipe glares at him. He knows Valtteri’s just trying to protect him but if his brother isn’t going to help him then the least he can do is to get out of his way.

“Will convince Lewis,” Felipe says, though he’s not at all confident in that. “Will listen to me more than you.”

“And Toto more than both of us,” Valtteri says. “Maybe I text him too.”

“I hate you,” Felipe says, taking his breakfast and marching back up the stairs with it.

“Good,” Valtteri calls after him.

He’s going to have to come up with something, though. Felipe is a stubborn git, as Rob likes to say, and he’ll find another way to get himself into trouble. And Valtteri’s going to have to try and stop him.

 

Jenson’s eyes flutter open and he frowns when he finds himself on the floor, trying to remember what’s going on. He doesn’t recognise where he is and something is definitely wrong. He struggles to his feet before the memory – or the bits of memory – from the day before hit him and he remembers what’s going on.

“Nando, wake up!”

He wasn’t supposed to fall asleep. He’s supposed to be watching Fernando, making sure he really is alright whilst he slept, but it had gotten later and later and eventually he must have fallen asleep. He kneels beside Fernando, shaking his little brother a little. He has to be ok. Whatever happened the day before, he has to be able to wake up.

Fernando blinks awake, glaring at Jenson when he realises who’s woken him up, until he remembers what has happened. Straight away he jumps to his feet, wobbles a little, then falls back to the floor.

“Are you alright?”

“I am fine,” Fernando insists, leaning against the wall before he tries standing up again. He’s not fine. The fact everything’s spinning now is proof of that. He’s not entirely sure what’s wrong with him either. He shouldn’t be like this, even after what they did to him.

“You’re not,” Jenson says. “You need to see a doctor or something.”

“Yes, and I am sure there is one here,” Fernando says, shrugging Jenson away when he tries to help. He stands and, this time, doesn’t fall over, but the room is still spinning. “It was just standing too soon after waking up.”

“I doubt it.”

“And how would you know,” Fernando snaps. It’s no good getting into an argument with Jenson now, but it’s a flash back of normality and he feels a little better for it. He smiles and Jenson reflects the hope filled look, but Fernando can see he’s scared. About as scared as Fernando is.

“We’ll get out of this,” Fernando says.

“How?”

Fernando sighs, rubbing his head and trying to make things stop spinning, for just a couple of seconds. He doesn’t know the answer to that.

“I don’t know but we will,” Fernando says. “I just need to come up with a plan.”

Trying to convince them he hasn’t said anything isn’t working, and Fernando’s ready to give up on that plan. He’s also ready to give up on Kimi, who either doesn’t care that he’s missing or hasn’t noticed. If they’re going to get out of this, they’re going to have to do it themselves.

“Jenson, do you trust me?”

“No, why?”

“I am going to get us out of here.”

 

“They have done something,” Kimi tells Britta, watching Sebastian whilst he eats. Maurizio has disappeared again and neither of them know for sure where he is, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out.

“Kimi, I am sure you are over reacting,” Britta says, gently. “Sebastian is fine. Look at him.”

“But he’s not,” Kimi says. “His powers are gone. Ask him. Ask him to do something and he will not be able to.”

It shouldn’t have worked that fast. Not just after one session.

“He is _fine_ ,” Britta says again. “Some days he just has off days. I am sure it is nothing to worry about.”

Kimi frowns, peering at Britta. Something isn’t right here. Britta doesn’t seem herself.

“Are you alright?”

“I really think you are worrying over nothing Kimi, and it has to stop,” Britta says. “You are only upsetting Sebastian and making things difficult here.”

Now he _knows_ something isn’t right. “Britta, what has happened?”

“I went up to the building on the top of the hill yesterday,” Britta says. “There was nothing there, nothing like what you’re talking about. There’s nothing going on, Kimi.”

“What happened?” Kimi asks again, even though he knows there’s no point. Whatever has happened to Britta, she doesn’t remember. “If there is nothing going on, why did Felipe say what he did?”

“To cause trouble here?” Britta says. “Or perhaps there really _was_ something going on, but Ferrari have changed now, Kimi. That is why Maurizio is here, and I am here. Ferrari isn’t the same as it was before. It’s a family now. You have nothing to worry about.”

“Something happened yesterday,” Kimi says. He doesn’t know what, but they did something to Britta at the top of the hill. She isn’t going to help anymore.

“Nothing happened,” Britta insists. “You need to calm down, alright. You’re unsettling Sebastian.”

Kimi glances back over at his little brother, oblivious to everything whilst he’s eating his breakfast. He can continue on this argument and try to make Britta see sense, but he doesn’t think that’s going to work. Or he can give up and solve this himself. He’d rather Britta helps, but that doesn’t seem to be an option right now.

“Alright,” Kimi grunts. “Sorry.”

“Yes, well,” Britta says, smoothing he creases in her clothes. “At least we have that sorted out now.”

 

Fernando still hasn’t thought of something when the door opens again. Jenson’s initial reaction is, again, to make a run for it, but there are more people outside in the corridor than the first time and there’s no way he’s going to be able to make an escape, even if he did think Fernando was up to it physically. He pushes Fernando behind him, trying to keep him out of harm’s way, whilst the men in white coats come into the little cell.

“What do you want?” Jenson asks, his eyes flicking between each one of them. “He’s told you he doesn’t know anything. Just let us go.”

“You have not told him?” someone Jenson doesn’t recognise says, peering past the taller boy to look at Fernando. Fernando can barely stand, but he’s doing his best to not let on to Jenson that that is the case. “Shame you could not keep your mouth shut earlier.”

“Please,” Fernando says. “He doesn’t know. Let him go.”

“Too late for that, Fernando,” the man says, still ignoring Jenson’s presence to look at his younger brother. “Want to help us out?”

Fernando stumbles back into another one of the scientists and Jenson follows him, holding him upright, still asking if he was ok over and over again.

“Am not doing anything for you,” Fernando says, struggling to push everyone else away to stand by himself and prove he really was fine.

“I don’t think you have a choice,” the guy in charge said. The smirk on his face didn’t make Jenson feel any better.

“What have you done to him?” Jenson asks, making at least half the men in white coats snigger. He ignores them, speaking directly to the guy who’s still watching Fernando to struggle to stand. Nobody’s trying to help him anymore, letting him sway and wobble of his own accord. “What have you done to him?” Jenson asks again when nobody answers him.

“Want to tell him, Fernando?” the guy asks, taking a step towards Fernando. Jenson side steps to stand between the two of them, not that he has any idea what he’s intending to do. “You don’t know, do you?”

Fernando’s already said that he shouldn’t be like this. He’s not quite explained to Jenson what happened – not anything that Jenson actually understood, anyway – but Jenson knows he doesn’t know why he’s like this.

“Have you ever met another power possessor with the same powers as you, Fernando?” the man asks, talking over Jenson’s shoulder. “Have you ever tried to use your powers on them?”

Fernando looks up from the floor where he’s trying to concentrate on holding himself together. “No.”

“You should give it a go. It gives some… _interesting_ results.”

“Is he going to be ok?” Jenson asks, taking a step towards the man in charge and demanding his attention. It’s clearly an unexpected move and the smirk on his face falls a little as he takes a step back.

He recovers quickly though.

“He’s going to be exactly as we want him to be,” he says. “Why don’t you come and help us out, Fernando?”

Fernando stands upright, the fear clear in his eyes when Jenson turns to him. When Jenson tries to hold his shoulders, he shrugs his brother away with a lot more strength than he had before.

“It’s ok,” Jenson says. “We’re going to get out of this, remember? Remember, we’re going to think of something.”

“It’s a little late for that. What is it Fernando told you? Once we’re inside, you can’t do anything.”


	21. All This Time I Was Finding Myself

Discovering his powers was not a delightful event for Fernando as it was for most other power possessors. He didn’t really know how to explain it to his parents, the way he could look into other people’s minds, and, even when he’d gone to live with his “family” and been given a tutor to help him learn, he had never been able to tell other people what happened when he tapped onto the sides of their heads. He didn’t really know himself. He still doesn’t.

It’s never been a secret, so much. Ron knows what Fernando’s powers are, as best as anyone can know, and Ferrari know too. They’d been very interested in them when he first arrived at the family, but when he made it perfectly clear he hated the powers and never wanted to use them, they seemed less interested. It had never really made sense, until the night at the labs.

“ _Is_ _ok_. _I_ _can_ _pull_ _him_ _out_ _of_ _this_. _Maybe_. _Just_ _wait_ _a_ _second_.”

It hadn’t been the first time he’d used his powers on another person, of course. His tutor was always trying to get Fernando to get him into the strange, in between state that Fernando had the ability to bring, but it was the first time without anybody else there to clean up after him when things went wrong. It was the first time he’d pulled someone out when he wasn’t the one to put them in. And it was the first time – the only time so far – he’d done it under such pressure. It had very nearly not worked, and Fernando has no idea what he had very almost done to Valtteri. He never wants to try it again, and has been focusing on his physical power without touching his non-phys since that night.

Now, it doesn’t look like he has much of a choice.

 

“Where’s Britta?” Kimi asks, sticking his head around the door in to where Sebastian was playing with his cars on the kitchen top.

“Shopping.”

“Maurizio?”

Sebastian shrugs. “Out. But it’s ok. Because the tutors will be here soon and then-.”

“Go and pack a bag,” Kimi says.

“Why?” Sebastian asks, hopping off the chair and looking up at his brother.

“We’re leaving,” Kimi says. “Quickly. Before Britta or Maurizio get back.”

“Just you and me?” Sebastian asks. There’s no fear in his voice and when Kimi nods his face breaks into a grin. “Where are we going to go?”

“It’s a surprise,” Kimi says. He’s no idea. They don’t have anywhere _to_ go, but he can’t stay here anymore. He can’t put Sebastian at risk anymore. Anywhere has to be better than here and that’s just where they’ll go. “Come on,” he says, shepherding Sebastian up the stairs. “Get ready, let’s go.”

“What about Britta?” Sebastian asks, rushing up to his room.

“She’s going to follow afterwards,” Kimi lies. He knew Sebastian would worry about her and he’s never going to leave if he knows Britta isn’t coming with them, so Kimi’s already come up with a plan. “She just needs to sort some things out here and then she’s going to catch up with us, but we need to go now.”

“It’s like an adventure, isn’t it?” Sebastian says.

“A little,” Kimi says, handing Sebastian a backpack for him to put his things in. He probably wouldn’t need a lot. They could sort everything else out when they got away.

They can go back to Kimi’s old family, he’s thinking, at least until they can figure something else out. He’s already tried to get Fernando to ask if they can stay with him, but he’s received no reply from his so called friend and has given up there. It doesn’t matter, though. He’ll work something out. He’ll do what needs to be done.

“Have you got everything?”

“There is not a lot of space,” Sebastian says, trying to shove more clothes into the small bag.

“It’s ok,” Kimi says. “We can get more things when we get there.”

He hasn’t packed much himself, but he’s got enough money to get them somewhere safe and that’s all he really cares about.

Once, not long after he’d been taken from his birth family, Kimi had run away. He’d lasted a whole three days before he’d had to give in and come home, and that was without any preparation at all. They will do better this time, he’s sure of it.

Kimi leads Sebastian down the stairs, pulls his own bag onto his shoulder, and opens the front door.

“Where are you going?”

 

They’re taken somewhere and, once Jenson’s given up trying to snap Fernando out of whatever the men in white coats have put him in, he’s looking for a way out. It’s not hopefully. Even if, by some miracle, he does manage to spot a way out, he doesn’t think he’s going to be able to get Fernando out with him.

They’re brought into a room that Jenson recognises from somewhere but he doesn’t remember where from. Somebody Jenson _does_ know is waiting for them there.

Bernie smiles in greeting, happy with his team of scientist’s new discovery.

“Is it working, Maurizio?”

“Looks like it,” the leader says. “Fernando, do you think it is working?”

There are tears in Fernando’s eyes but he nods his head. He doesn’t have any choice in the matter.

“Good,” Bernie says. “Exactly what we need now Kimi is being uncooperative.”

“Kimi?” Fernando asks suddenly. He knows they know he’s been talking to Kimi, but he didn’t think they would actually do anything to the Finn. They can’t have. Kimi won’t stand for that. He would have realised something was wrong and he would have come to find Fernando, wouldn’t he?

“Shame you can’t get him to shut up,” Bernie says.

“I am sure if we investigate further we’ll find a way,” Maurizio says. “This way Fernando.”

“Investigate?” Jenson asks, following Fernando as he follows Maurizio over to a slab like bench that makes Jenson gulp. It looks like something from a morgue and it does nothing to settle Jenson’s tossing stomach. “You’re not doing anything to him.”

“We don’t need to do anything else to him just now,” Maurizio says. “Have you figured it out yet, Fernando?”

Fernando nods. “Will not do it. You can’t make me.”

He knows that’s a lie but he says it anyway. He needs Jenson to know he doesn’t want to do this.

Maurizio doesn’t even bother replying, knowing as well as Fernando does what’s racing through the teenager’s mind. He takes hold of Jenson’s hands, holding them behind his back.

“Come on then Fernando,” he instructs. “Quickly.”

Fernando wants to shake his head, but he can’t. He can’t even blink to wipe the tears away. “Am sorry, Jenson.”

“Fernando, what are you- get _off_ of me.”

Fernando takes a step forward and, with shaking hands, places his fingers against Jenson’s temples. It takes longer for Jenson to stop struggling than it would if one of the Ferrari scientists had been doing the job, but he eventually stops and Maurizio rests him on the slab.

“Good boy, Fernando.”

“You cannot do this,” Fernando says, still shaking, trying his best to get control of his own body back, but it’s useless. “You can’t.”

“We will take this session,” Bernie says. “Take him back to the cell.”

“No,” Fernando says, even though his legs are already taking him out of the room. “No, I’m not leaving him. You can’t – you cannot do this to him. He hasn’t done anything.”

“We’ll come and fetch you later,” Maurizio says, watching Fernando leave.

 

Susie’s sneaking back across the landing when Felipe comes out of the boys’ room again. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep in Jean-Eric’s room, but she was tired and it had happened. But nobody needs to know that, and she’s not planning on letting anyone find out when she’s caught.

“What are you doing?” Felipe asks. He’s come up with a sort of plan that is in no way ideal but there’s a chance. “Please do not say you have done something to Jean-Eric. We have enough to deal with without you.”

“Thanks,” Susie spat. “Nice to know you care.”

Felipe rolls his eyes and lets Susie march back into her bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her.

A couple of seconds later, Rob comes down on to the middle floor.

“Everything alright?” he asks.

“Susie is in a mood,” Felipe says, heading down the stairs. “Nothing new.”

“Hang on a second,” Rob says, grabbing Felipe’s shoulder and stopping him going any further. “You’re up and ready early for somebody who’s grounded.”

“Cannot even get dressed now?” Felipe asks, pulling away from Rob and going down the stairs. Bloody Susie. Between the two of them, it seems his siblings are going to make it impossible for him to ever do anything ever again.

“You better not be thinking about going after Fernando and Jenson,” Rob calls, following Felipe down the stairs.

Valtteri looks up from where he’s watching TV. Rob mentally groans, but it doesn’t look like Valtteri has any plans to go anywhere. Felipe sits down beside him, his arms crossed.

“Was not going to,” he lies, but Rob doesn’t believe that for a second.

“I know you want to help your friend,” Rob said. “But we went through yesterday what would happen, didn’t we?”

“Was not going to,” Felipe says again.

His thoughts are low and angry and Rob comes into the room to sit between the boys. He’s no idea what Valtteri’s thoughts are like, the Finn hiding them like always, but he got the impression they wouldn’t be much better than Felipe’s.

“What were you going to do?” Rob asks Felipe.

“Nothing,” Felipe says, not looking at Rob but pretending to focus on the film Valtteri has put on.

“Felipe,” Rob sighs. “We want to help, you know. We don’t like that Ferrari are doing anything to anybody. But we’ve done all we can think of for now. So, if you have any ideas, tell us and we will figure out if they will work.”

“Figure out a way of stopping me,” Felipe says.

“We’re not working against you,” Rob tries, but nothing seems to be going in. “We’ll help if we think we can find a way of doing it safely.”

He doesn’t want to rush into it and he doesn’t see why Felipe can’t see that. They’d nearly lost both the boys last time and they were not going to let that happen again. Everything has to be thought out and the consequences considered before they let the boys do anything involving Ferrari again and, if the risk is too high, they’re not doing it, even if that does mean sacrificing Fernando and Jenson.

“What were you going to do?” Rob asks again when Felipe doesn’t answer.

“I was going to find a way to get there and go,” Felipe mumbles. “Will be easier for me. Ron only has non-phys and I have both. Most of the time. I could maybe go in there and get them before anybody even knew what happened.”

“Felipe, you know your powers are still a little temperamental,” Rob says.

“Not when I need them to be,” Felipe says, even though he knows it isn’t true. He isn’t going to let Rob put him off of this. He’s going to help them no matter what anybody says.

“Just wait,” he says. “Wait until tonight. And if we haven’t heard anything from Ron, then we will both go and try to sort things out ourselves.”

“You’ll let me go?” Felipe asks. There’s no way that’s what Rob is planning. There has to be a trick somewhere, but Felipe can’t see where yet. He searches Rob’s face, waiting for something to show, but there’s nothing.

“I’ll come with you.”


	22. And I Didn't Know I Was Lost

Ron looks down at Kimi and Sebastian, not sure what to make of them. They’re clearly leaving somewhere, and both look scared to death by his arrival, even if Kimi is trying to hide it. Neither of them answer for a while, Kimi stepping back and pushing Sebastian behind him, but Ron isn’t there to do anything to them.

“What’s going on here?” he asks. It isn’t that he doesn’t believe Claire and Rob – he isn’t sure what to make of what they’ve told him, but he doesn’t _not_ believe them – but these two seem to know something’s not right. Either that or their parents have told them they’re leaving, which doesn’t fill Ron with that much hope either.

“Nothing,” Kimi says. “We have to go, sorry. Come on, Seb.”

Sebastian looks up at Ron with fear filled eyes and there is definitely something going on.

“Where are Fernando and Jenson?”

It’s the only thing he can think of. Either these two have done something to them and are running away, or are scared they’re next, and Ron doesn’t know which is worse.

Confusion slips onto Kimi’s face for a moment, but it’s gone almost as quickly as it appeared.

“Why would we know?”

“They’re here,” Ron says. “I know they’re here.”

“Have not seen Fernando or Jenson since the assessment,” Kimi says. He can’t hide that he’s a little worried though. Maybe Fernando was right and Ferrari would do something after all.

“Where are your parents?”

“Out,” Kimi says.

“Do you know where?” Ron asks.

“No.”

“And where are you going?” Ron asks.

“Out,” Kimi says again. He’s trying to figure out a way to get Ron to leave, but nothing comes to mind.

“Britta went to the shops,” Sebastian says. “In town. She’s probably still there. She goes to a café in the town after. Maybe you could meet her there?”

That’s not true. Kimi knows that isn’t true, or not for certain anyway, but Ron doesn’t.

“What’s the name of this café?”

“Umm…”

“It’s the only one in the town centre,” Kimi says. “You won’t be able to miss it.”

Ron looks between Kimi and Sebastian, not sure if he should believe them or not. He’s still not sure he trusts the bags they’re carrying, but there’s nothing he can do about that now.

“Thank you,” he says, turning away to walk back into the town. He’s tired from traveling and could do with something from a café.

Kimi turns to Sebastian. “How did you think of that?”

Sebastian shrugs. “Are we going to go now?”

Kimi peers out the door and, seeing Ron already a little way down the road, nods. But he knows there’s something he has to do first.

“Wait here, ok?” he says, dumping his bag back in the front hall. “Go to my room and lock yourself inside, ok? No matter what happens, don’t come out? Open the door for anybody but me.”

 

His body back in his control, Fernando is curled up in the corner if the cell he’s been returned to. All the fight has gone now. He doesn’t know what to do and he’s no hope that there _is_ something he can do. He’s theirs and Jenson’s… no. He doesn’t want to think about that.

They’ll get out. He doesn’t know when or how, but they will. Ron must be looking for them by now and someone will figure out where they are. Kimi or Felipe or Valtteri or _somebody_. They have to…

He should have just told them what he said in the beginning. Maybe then they would have let Jenson go before they got to this. Better yet, he should have not told Kimi anything at all. He should have told Kimi he’d forgotten or that nothing happened or _something_. None of this would have happened, like they said. He would be at home right now, and Jenson too.

He’s a useless brother. He couldn’t help Felipe and now he can’t help Jenson and, if he ever gets out of this, he won’t be able to help…

There’s the clatter of feet outside and Fernando looks up, but there’s no hope there anymore. They can’t be done with Jenson yet. It hasn’t been long enough. Which means they’ve come to fetch him to do something and Fernando didn’t think at the start of the day there was anything worse than what’s happening to Jenson but maybe there is.

Fernando shuffles back into the wall behind him as the door opens, taking deep breaths in the hope that being calm might keep him in control, somehow.

“Kimi?”

“Ron was right then,” Kimi says.

“Do not shut the door,” Fernando says, jumping up just as the door shuts silently. He squeezes his eyes shut and groans quietly. “Great. Now we will never get out.”

“Except I have the keys,” Kimi says, taking the ring of keys from his pocket. Sometimes it’s useful to be able to get people to do what you want. It had been surprisingly easy to convince the security guard that he needed to get in, and that he needed the keys, but Kimi isn’t going to complain about that.

“Ron told you we were here?” Fernando asks. “But how did he know?”

Kimi shrugs. “That does not really matter right now. Come on. We have to go.”

He doesn’t like leaving Sebastian alone. Even though he knows there’s no way anyone can get into his room when it’s locked, he doesn’t trust Sebastian to not be gullible enough to let somebody in.

“Jenson,” Fernando says. “They are doing the experiments on him. We have to go and get him.”

“Where are they?” Kimi asks, trying not to sound as annoyed as he is. Fernando is a mess and he could really do without this right now. He already has one little kid to deal with. He doesn’t need another. “Show me.”

“I can’t,” Fernando mumbles, shrinking away from Kimi when he glares at him. “My powers…”

“What about them?”

“They can _control_ me,” Fernando says. He looks up at Kimi, trying to read the Finn’s face. He’s a little scared he’s just going to be left here and, if he’s honest, maybe it would be better if he was just left here, but Kimi has to go and help Jenson.

“Huh?”

“I do not know how but they can,” Fernando says. “Cannot stop them. Cannot go in there, Kimi. What if they make me do something I don’t want to?”

“Then _tell_ me where he is,” Kimi says, trying not to sound too irritated. He just needs to keep Fernando calm or he isn’t going to get anywhere.

Fernando gives Kimi directions that he hopes will get him to Jenson, but he can’t be certain he’s remembered correctly. He doesn’t trust his body or his mind. Not anymore.

“Alright, you wait here and I’ll come back for you, ok?” Kimi says. He smiles and hopes it settles Fernando a little – the last thing he needs is hysteria right now – but, judging by the look on Fernando’s face, it doesn’t work. “I should not be too long.”

 

When Claire comes downstairs, Rob, Felipe, and Valtteri are still squashed together on the sofa, watching the film. Susie’s in the kitchen, making breakfast for Jean-Eric. Before Claire can even say anything about how surprised she is, Susie scowls at her, having already had the not so witty comments from Rob and her brothers.

Claire doesn’t say anything on the subject.

“I just got off the phone to the House,” Claire says, quietly to Rob.

“Bruno said a week.”

“He said within the week,” Claire corrects him.

“And?”

“We can drop him off whenever we want,” Claire says. “They’re ready for him.”

“That’s brilliant!” Rob says, jumping up.

“What?” Felipe asks, suspiciously.

“Do you want to tell them now?” Rob asks.

“I think it is a little late for that,” Valtteri says.

Claire takes a deep breath. She wants to talk about it to Jean-Eric first but it doesn’t look like they’re going to have much of a chance for that now.

“Susie! Jean-Eric! Can you come in here please?”

There’s the usual groan from Susie as she marches back into the living room. Jean-Eric brings his bowl of cereal with him, not wanting to leave it behind.

“What have I done _this_ time?” Susie asks.

“This isn’t about you,” Rob says. “Do you want to sit down?”

Jean-Eric sits himself between Felipe and Valtteri but, as always, Susie prefers to stand. Claire doesn’t bother arguing with her.

“We wanted to tell you separately, Jean-Eric,” she says. “But we’ve found you somewhere else to stay.”

Jean-Eric’s eyes look like they’re about to pop out of his head and the grin on his face is contagious and has Rob and Claire laughing in a couple of seconds.

“You found somewhere else?” Valtteri asks.

“Yes,” Claire says. “The House. It’s for power possessors who don’t fit conventionally. It’s a good environment and they’ll help you develop your powers.”

“No,” Susie shakes her head. “He’s not going there.”

“Susie?” Claire asks, confused.

Susie pulls Jean-Eric off of the sofa, holding tightly onto his hand.

“You’re not taking him there,” Susie says. “It’s a dumping ground. It’s where you dumped Bruno, isn’t it?”

Jean-Eric looks between Susie and Claire, trying to figure out who he should believe. He knows he doesn’t belong here and if there’s not anywhere else he can go, the House can’t be _that_ bad an option. Can it?

“Susie,” Claire says, softly.

“I’m not letting you take him there,” Susie says.

“You’re not making any sense,” Rob says. “We thought this would be what you wanted.”

“Well you thought wrong,” Susie snaps. “He’s staying here until you find some place better.”

“There _is_ no place better,” Claire says. “We can’t just magic connections where there are none. The House isn’t a bad place, and is perfect for Jean-Eric. I don’t see what your problem is.”

“Of course you don’t,” Susie says. “You know what? Do what you want. You don’t care about what I think so why should I even bother.”

Predictably, probably the only predictable part of the conversation, Susie storms off upstairs, but only Jean-Eric watches her go, the cereal going soggy.

“She’ll come around eventually,” Claire says gently, trying to reassure him. “Don’t worry about what she said. You’ll be better at the House. I know it.”


	23. What If I'm Far From Home?

Kimi follows the directions Fernando gave him, gets lost, then eventually finds where he’s supposed to be going. Bernie and Maurizio’s voices drift down the corridor from an open doorway and Kimi waits around the corner, watching the door. Even though it was easy enough to use his powers to get access into the building, he’s got a feeling it won’t be so easy to trick these two.

He’ll have to wait for them to come out. Then he can go in, get Jenson, get Fernando, and leave. The four of them will go and find Ron and maybe he’ll take Kimi and Sebastian in whilst Kimi figures out what they can do next.

It takes a while, and Kimi has to keep glancing back to make sure nobody else is coming, but, eventually, Maurizio and Bernie emerge from the room.

“He’s not ideal,” Maurizio says. “Will be a lot of work to get him to even half the level of Vettel.”

Kimi freezes at the sound of his brother’s name. The two men are walking away from him, and he should be going in to get Jenson now, but he can’t move.

“No, but this’ll give you and Alonso something to practice on,” Bernie says. “We are leaving the good ones until last this time, do you understand?”

“Yes, of course,” Maurizio mutters, following his boss down the hall.

Kimi stays put until he can’t hear them anymore. He’s known all along they were going to do something to Sebastian but there’s always been a chance… _maybe_ they wouldn’t. _Maybe_ he was just being paranoid. But now he knows.

There’s someone coming down the corridor he’s stupidly stood on and the footsteps snap him back to the task at hand. Jenson.

Using the keys he’d been given by one of the security guards, Kimi gets into the room where they have Jenson. The room seems empty, and Kimi walks through it slowly, peering at bottles of chemicals, the names on the labels unrecognisable. He’s got the feeling he doesn’t want to know what these do.

Eventually, he finds Jenson, sleeping peacefully. Kimi holds his own breath until he sees Jenson’s chest gently rise and fall, then rushes over to get him. He’s already spent too long away from Sebastian and the sooner they can get back to the house, the better.

“Jenson?”

He doesn’t stir, and Kimi isn’t surprised. Gently at first, Kimi shakes him, trying to wake him, but it still doesn’t work.

“Jenson, come on.”

He does not have time for this. When Jenson still doesn’t wake, Kimi lifts him off of the slab like bed he’s lying on. The Brit isn’t too heavy and, as Kimi lifts him, he starts to wake and tries to drag his feet along with Kimi as the Finn guides him to the doorway.

“Jenson?”

“Muhuhm?”

“It is ok,” Kimi says. “Do not try to speak. I am getting you out of here.”

“Nano.”

“Do not try to speak,” Kimi orders. “Focus on walking.”

Quickly checking the coast is clear, Kimi half leads, half drags Jenson back the way he came, missing out the part where he got lost before, making it back to the cell where Fernando is without seeing anybody.

“You are going to have to try to stand yourself,” Kimi says, helping Jenson to lean against the wall whilst he fumbles with the keys.

Fernando jumps up when the door opens again. He can’t tell how long Kimi’s been gone. He’s tried counting the seconds but lost count before a minute so that was just a waste of time.

When Kimi pokes his head into the room, Fernando lets out a sigh of relief and rushes over. “Did you get Jenson?”

“He needs help,” Kimi says, nodding to Jenson. “You can still do your thing, yes?”

Fernando comes out of the cell, shaking his head at the sight of Jenson. “I am so sorry. I did not mean to. I could not stop it.”

“Just do your thing so we can go,” Kimi snaps. They need to get going, now.

Fernando stands on his toes to place his fingers against Jenson’s temples again, preying this actually works and Ferrari haven’t ruined this as well. Jenson blinks, confused, and his eyes focus again.

“You are ok?”

“Fernando?”

Fernando feels like crying. The last time he tried to do that, it didn’t work so well.

“You are ok?”

“Let’s _go_ ,” Kimi snaps, pulling on Fernando to drag both McLaren boys down the corridor and out of danger.

 

Kimi has been gone for _hours_ (or it has definitely _felt_ like hours) when Sebastian hears the door downstairs shut. He jumps up from where he’s sat on the bed, reading, and goes to the door. He peers through the key hole but can’t see anything.

“Sebastian?”

Kimi!

Sebastian grins and goes back across the room to where he’s left the key on his brother’s bed side table. Before unlocking the door, he takes another peek through the key hole, not really trusting himself entirely.

Kimi’s there now, alone. He looks annoyed, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Sebastian doesn’t even care about the Finn’s apparent mood. He’s back and they can go now.

Hands shaking with excitement, Sebastian steps back and pushes the key into the lock, unlocking the door.

“We’re going now?” Sebastian asks, opening the door. He freezes as soon as he sees what’s waiting for him.

There is no Kimi. There’s Maurizio.

“Yes, we’re going now,” he says, grabbing hold of Sebastian’s wrist as he steps back into Kimi’s room. “Let’s go.”

 

There’s a knock on the door and Susie looks up at it, glaring at the planks of wood as if they’re to ones coming to disturb her peace.

“Go away.”

The door opens anyway and she’s about to shout about the point of knocking and the meaning of the phrase go away when she sees who it is. Jean-Eric looks up at her with Dan in one hand, the other still resting on the door handle.

“Are you ok?” he asks.

Susie nods, wiping her eyes. “If you’re going to come in, shut the door.”

Jean-Eric does, as gently as possible, before hopping up onto the bed to sit beside her.

“What’s the matter?” Jean-Eric asks.

“Nothing.”

“Yeah there is.”

“There’s not.”

“Then why are you crying.”

“I’m _not_ crying,” Susie snaps, making Jean-Eric shuffle away from her a little. She gulps down air and wipes her eyes again, even though she isn’t crying. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Claire and Rob say it’s nice where I’m going to go,” Jean-Eric says. He doesn’t know if that’s what’s wrong, but it might be, and he can’t think of anything else to say. “They say Bruno likes it there and, maybe when I’m a bit older, I can work as one of the assessors or maybe another family will find me. And you can come and visit when you want. If you want to.”

“Of course they’re saying that,” Susie spits and she shouldn’t have to wipe her eyes again because she is _not_ crying, but she does anyway. “Mum _dumped_ Bruno there and now they’re dumping you there too.”

“I do not belong here, Susie,” Jean-Eric says. “I am just making you feel bad and it is better I am somewhere else than here.”

“It isn’t you making me feel bad, I promise,” Susie says, gently. “This isn’t your fault.”

“But I still do not belong here,” Jean-Eric points out. “And, maybe, if I go there, then I’ll find somewhere I do belong.”

“But what if you do belong here?” Susie asks. “I should never have taken Dan from you that day. I was being horrible. And if that’s why you think you don’t belong here then stop. It’s me who doesn’t belong here. Mum loves you. You get on with Valtteri and Felipe. You belong here more than me.”

“I belong with Dan,” Jean-Eric says. “I knew straight away I did not belong here. It wasn’t just because you took Dan.”

He sits the toy between himself and Susie, watching her looking at it.

“Maybe it is a good thing you did it,” Jean-Eric says. “Or else Rob and Claire would never have listened and would never have found me someplace else.”

“I suppose,” Susie says.

“You will come and visit me when I leave, won’t you?” Jean-Eric asks.

“You want me to?”

Jean-Eric nods quickly. “If you would like to.”

“Of course but… why would you me to?” Susie asks. “All I’ve done is be horrible to you.”

“Do not think that is true,” Jean-Eric says with a smile, pushing himself off of Susie’s bed and taking Dan with him into his own room.

 

The front door is open when Ron returns. He’s waited for hours outside the café he assumed Sebastian was talking about any there’s nobody there. He sticks his head in the house, surprised to see the bags the boys had been carrying still lined up by the door.

“Hello?” he calls, uncertainly. The house is silent and this doesn’t seem right in the slightest. “Hello. Britta? Maurizio? Are you here?”

Ron can’t say he believed Rob and Claire at first but there is definitely something strange going on here and he wants to know what. He wonders through the house, hoping to find something that will lead him to the boys. The ground floor is empty, as is the first, he finds when he checks. The upper floor too. There’s no sign of a struggle or… anything. There’s no sign of anything.

Downstairs, the front door shuts.

“Sebastian? It’s ok. You can come out now!”

There’s no movement from anywhere else in the house, so Ron comes down the stairs instead. Kimi is waiting in the hallway, one of the bags already on his shoulder.

“Jenson. Nando.”

The boys look up at the sound of his voice and a grin breaks onto Jenson’s face instantly. Ron practically jumps down the last couple of steps, wrapping his arms around Jenson before pulling Fernando into the hug too.

“Don’t you ever do that to me again,” he says, softly, still not letting his boys go.

“Where is Seb?” Kimi asks. He doesn’t know how Ron got into the house and he doesn’t care.

“I thought he would be with you,” Ron says, slowly, confused. “I didn’t see anyone in that café, you know? It isn’t right to lie to your elders.”

“He is not here?” Kimi asks.

“No.”


	24. Oh Brother I Will Hear You Call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting two chapters today. For a number of reasons, but mostly because McLaren are idiots and don't know how to distribute merchandise correctly. :)

“Is there any news yet?” Felipe asks.

Rob has to admit he has waited until the middle of the afternoon, something that surprises Rob a little. The teenager has come into to the kitchen whilst Rob is preparing dinner, catching him off guard.

“There isn’t, it there?” Felipe says when Rob doesn’t answer straight away.

“Not yet, no,” Rob says, knowing he isn’t going to get away with lying to Felipe today.

“Am worried about them,” Felipe says, sitting at the table, apparently taking a new tactic to get what he wants. “Have been gone for ages now, and if Ferrari have them then they could have done their worst to them by now. What if they are like how Michael was?”

“They won’t be,” Rob tries to insist, but he is as confident in that answer as Felipe is and doing nothing to hide it. “I’m sure they won’t be.”

“But they _might_ be,” Felipe says, annoyed. “They might be, and who will Fernando be expecting to come to his help. Us. Like he did for Valtteri. And we are not doing anything. We are just sat here like idiots.”

“Hey,” Rob says, gently. “I am sure Fernando and Jenson are ok. Ron probably already has them, they just haven’t thought to tell us because they’re idiots. Nobody is _expecting_ you to do anything.”

“Phone him,” Felipe says.

“What?”

“Phone Ron and make sure,” Felipe says. “And then if he is not back we can go and find out what has happened to them. You promised, Rob. You promised you would help.”

“Alright,” Rob says. Phoning Ron can’t do too much harm, can it? After all, they probably _are_ back at home, all safe and sound. He’s sure of it.

 

“What do we do?” Jenson asks, quietly.

“You don’t _do_ anything,” Ron says. “We are leaving. If Sebastian is in trouble, it is up to Britta and Maurizio to sort out.”

“It is them who have done this,” Fernando says. He crosses his arms, moving away from the door Ron is trying to push them out of.

Ron just wants to take them home, to get them back to safety and away from whatever is going on here. He doesn’t like it. Not at all. As far as he’s concerned it has nothing to do with him or his children and he is not going to let them be dragged back into it.

“We are going,” Ron says.

“No we are not,” Fernando says, sternly. “Kimi saved us. We have to help him. It is only fair.”

Ron glances over at Kimi. The Finn sat on the sofa when he realised what happened and he hasn’t moved since. If Ron didn’t know how tough the teenager was, he would feel sorry for him. As it is, he’s certain Kimi will be able to cope with this without help from Fernando and Jenson. The boys don’t seem to believe that though.

“There is nothing we can do,” Ron says.

“Yes there is,” Fernando says. “What about Britta? Kimi?”

Kimi doesn’t seem to be listening and, when Fernando sits down beside him, he doesn’t react at all.

“Kimi? What about Britta?”

Kimi shakes his head. “They did something to her.”

“Well maybe I can undo it?” Fernando says. He was able to undo what they did to Jenson. He might be able to do the same to Britta.

Kimi just shakes his head. “There is no point. What can she do? I am supposed to be looking after him and I could not even do that right.”

“Because you were too busy rescuing us,” Fernando says, gently.

“Would not even be there if it was not for me,” Kimi says. He had all the time in the world to stop what Ferrari were doing, but he decided to hold back, to stop caring, and, if he’s honest with himself, he deserves to be punished for that. For what he did to Valtteri and what he let happen to the others. But Sebastian doesn’t deserve this.

“Where is Britta?” Ron asks. If the boys aren’t going to come with him until this is sorted out, he’s going to have to sort it out.

“Do not know,” Kimi mumbles. “She went shopping.”

She shouldn’t have been gone for this long, but, with everything that goes on at Ferrari, that’s probably the least suspicious thing his parents could do at the moment. He’s almost certain Britta isn’t in the building on the top of the hill. Maurizio’s probably sent her off somewhere to keep her out of the way and Kimi has no idea where.

“Ok,” Ron says, even though that isn’t helpful in the slightest. “Let’s go and find Britta so Fernando can do what he wants to do.”

“You go find Britta,” Fernando says. “I’m staying here.”

He’s no doubt that, as soon as they’re out of the house, Ron will try to convince them to leave and let Kimi solve this alone, and he isn’t going to let that happen.

“Fernando.”

“I’m staying here,” Fernando says, crossing his arms. “If you’re scared to go alone, take Jenson with you. I am not leaving.”

Ron rolls his eyes and briefly wonders if anybody else has as stubborn children as he does, but he’s already come to the conclusion that it’s a quality almost all power possessors share.

“Fine,” he says. “But if you’re not here when we get back…”

“We will be fine,” Fernando insists. “Just go.”

 

“Hello?”

“Er… who is this?” Rob asks, turning away from Felipe with the phone glued to his ear.

“Kevin,” the boy on the other end of the line says.

“Right, yes,” Rob says. “Is Ron there?”

“No,” Kevin says.

“No? Who is there then?” Rob asks.

“Nobody, there’s just me,” Kevin says. “Um-Nando and Jenshon disdappeared and then Ron went to look for them.”

“So you’re home alone,” Rob asks.

“Uh huh.”

“Right. We’re going to come over now. Don’t worry. We won’t be long. Just stay right there.”

“What are you doing?” Felipe asks as Rob puts his phone away.

“There’s a little kid home alone, Felipe,” Rob asks. He doesn’t understand why someone would just leave anyone as young as Kevin home alone, but he didn’t understand a lot of the things some of the parents did. “There are more important things right now.”

“Yes,” Felipe says, following Rob as he goes through the house. “Like Fernando and Jenson.”

“I am just going to go and get Kevin and bring him back here,” Rob says. “Then we’ll go and help Ron alright.”

Felipe groans impatiently when Ron pat him on the back before putting on his coat and calling up the stairs that he won’t be long. The teenager watches him go, his hands curling into fists in his pockets.

“Felipe?”

He spins to find Valtteri watching him on the stairs. He’s no idea how long his brother’s been there but it doesn’t matter. He’s not going to be any help. He never is.

Valtteri just sighs. “You still want to go after them?”

Felipe gulps, tears of anger pushing at his eyes, because _nobody_ listens to him. “Yes.”

“Fine then,” Valtteri says, pushing himself up. “I will come too.”

“What?”

“Am not going to stop you,” Valtteri says. “They said wait until tonight and it is tonight but they are not going to do anything. Do not want to see anybody hurt either. I am coming with you.”

“If this is you trying to stop me.”

“It isn’t,” Valtteri promises. “Are you still planning to go to Lewis?”

“Unless you have a better idea?” Felipe says. “And it had better not involve flying.”

“Maybe we should go to Lewis.”

 

“Don’t worry, Sebastian, everything is going to be ok.”

The voice is inside his head, Sebastian’s sure of it. Or as inside as is possible whilst it feels like his brain his spilling through his ears and his mind leaking out into the rest of the room. None of it makes sense, but seems strangely familiar. He doesn’t like it. Not one bit.

“It must be an age thing,” someone over somewhere says, and Sebastian’s almost sure it’s Maurizio, but the voices reaches his mind as if he’s underwater, and it’s hard enough to make out what they’re saying without focusing on who’s saying it. “The younger they are, the faster they deteriorate.”

“Then we cannot waste any time.”

“Do you not think it is better to wait until he is older?” Maurizio suggests. “If we stop now, his powers have a chance of recovering of their own accord and, when he is old enough, we will be able to gain more power from him than now.”

“Oh, yes, that would be a marvellous idea, were it not for the fact that you let Räikkönen find out about all of this,” someone – the other voice – snaps.

Sebastian shivers, or thinks he did. It’s impossible to tell. Even when his eyes are open, everything is blurry and dark and nothing stays in his head for long enough to think about it. He tries to mumble something, but the blurred outline that he thinks is Maurizio doesn’t even turn to him.

“We could not do anything about Kimi.”

“You let him speak to Alonso.”

“I wasn’t to know Alonso would actually talk,” Maurizio tries. “He wasn’t supposed to talk.”

“Mmmmuh,” Sebastian tries again. He needs to get out of here. He doesn’t like the way his head feels and Kimi said this was a bad place. They _tricked_ him. He needs to get out.

“Calm down,” Maurizio says, gently, placing a hand on Sebastian’s forehead that calms him instantly, before turning back to the other voice. “I still do not think it is a good idea.”

“There is nothing else we can do now that Räikkönen knows,” the other voice says, making Sebastian squirm again. He doesn’t like the way they say his brother’s name. Kimi is in trouble, but he might not even know about it, and Sebastian has to get out of here and tell him and… “Calm him down properly, would you?”

The hand returns to Sebastian’s forehead and a second covers his eyes, but Maurizio doesn’t seem to be paying him any attention. “We could bring Kimi here. He used to have great control over his powers, didn’t he? Maybe there is still some of that power left.”

“We tried that,” the other voice says. “Back when he was here last. Räikkönen is not compatible.”

“Maybe I…”

“Do you want to try?”

“I mean, I _might_.”

“Just get on with what you are supposed to be doing now, if you think you can handle that.”


	25. What If I Lose It All?

They appear outside the fence that surrounds the laboratories, Lewis quickly making his excuses and leaving. The memories from their last visit are still fresh to both of them and, now they’re here, the confidence has completely disappeared. Valtteri watches his brother, waiting for Felipe to make the first move.

“Maybe we could just tell Britta?” Felipe suggests.

“You do not want to do this, so you?” Valtteri asks. “We can go, if you like.”

“No,” Felipe says. “No, we have to help them. But maybe, if we tell Britta, then maybe she would be able to do more than we can.”

Felipe takes a deep breath, shuddering when he thinks about what they’re going to have to do. Even if he could get his powers to work properly whenever he wanted them to, he can’t be sure that Ferrari won’t have employed somebody to stop just that.

“Do you know where Britta might be?” Valtteri asks. He’s not going to bother commenting on the uselessness of that plan. If Felipe thinks he’s helping and he isn’t getting himself killed, Valtteri will go along with it.

Felipe spins around, looking down at the little town at the bottom of the hill. He can see the Ferrari family home on the edge of the town, sat far enough outside the circle for it to be noticeable.

“I think so.”

 

“Kimi, you are not going up there alone,” Fernando snaps, pulling on the Finn’s arm. “Do you not think they will have thought of this? They will have noticed Jenson and I are not there, realised what has happened, and they will not let it happen again. You are being stupid.”

“And what would you do, if it were Jenson?” Kimi snapped, shrugging Fernando off of him.

“I would do what I thought would help him,” Fernando says. “And that is not this.”

He knows that. Of course he knows that. But he has to do something and neither of them can come up with anything else. Bringing Britta back is all very well and good but it isn’t going to do anything, not really. She’s not going to be able to get in there. So then what? They’ll have another person panicking and not doing anything and that’s not going to help in the slightest.

“What harm will it do to go up there now?” Kimi asks.

“They could do the same to you as they’re going to Sebastian,” Fernando warns, pulling Kimi away from the door.

“Will not let them.”

“It is not exactly easy to stop them,” Fernando says. “Cannot even stop me from hanging onto your arm. Do you really think you are going to stop them from doing it to you?”

He has a point, but not one that Kimi is going to listen to. He’s still trying to get Fernando off of him when there’s a knock at the door and they both freeze.

“Ron and Britta?” Fernando suggests, hopefully.

It doesn’t seem likely, but he’s nothing against being hopeful. Kimi brushes Fernando aside, going over to open the door with little caution. There isn’t much he can do if it is trouble anyway, as Fernando has pointed out, so there’s little point being cautious.

Felipe and Valtteri look up at him when he opens the door, taking a step back in unison. Kimi blinks at them, genuinely surprised. For a few seconds, none of them say anything, then Felipe seems to remember why he’s there.

“Know you have taken Fernando and Jenson,” he says, taking the step forwards again and ignoring Valtteri’s mumbles to be careful. “And if you think we are just going to let this happen, then you are stupider than I thought.”

“Felipe calm down,” Valtteri mutters. “Is Britta there?”

The plan _was_ to go and get Britta, but it looks now like Felipe has other ideas and Valtteri doesn’t really think they’re going to be as effective.

Kimi shakes his head, still slightly speechless.

Then Fernando appears at the door. “What are you doing here?”

“Fernando?” It’s the Williams boys turn to be shocked, not that Kimi seems to have gotten over his own surprise. “But… we thought they took you.”

“They did,” Fernando explains. “But Kimi rescued us.”

“Kimi?” Felipe asks. “But…”

Nope, this makes absolutely no sense to him. If it wasn’t for Kimi helping Ferrari – being _part of_ Ferrari – everything that had happened to Valtteri wouldn’t have happened. Kimi _isn’t_ on their side.

“None of that matters now,” Fernando says. “They have Sebastian.”

“Oh, that explains it,” Felipe says. “You care now that it is your own family.”

“Felipe, don’t be an idiot,” Fernando says, pulling his friend into the house and waving for Valtteri to follow him in too. “None of this is Sebastian’s fault.”

“No, it is _his_ ,” Felipe says, nodding to Kimi.

Kimi doesn’t blame him for his reaction. He would probably give the same reaction if the tables were turned after everything that has happened. He knows Felipe’s right and, like he’s been telling himself all along, if he’d bothered enough to care when this had all started, Sebastian would have never even have been in harm’s way. But it’s too late for that now.

“Are you going to help or not?” Fernando asks. He’s trying to come up with a plan or something. Hopefully, this time it will be more successful now that he isn’t locked up and everyone knows what’s going on.

“Not,” Felipe says, crossing his arms. “Will wait here until we can go home.”

“Felipe,” Valtteri says, rolling his eyes.

“Am not helping,” Felipe says. “You should have thought of this, Kimi, when you were letting other people get hurt. Did not care when it was us being hurt, me and Valtteri and Fernando. So why should we care when it is you?”

“Because now you sound even worse than them,” Valtteri says. “Will help,” he told Fernando. “Or I will, anyway.”

“Thank you,” Fernando says. It could help. He still has no idea what they can do and it doesn’t look like Kimi wants to try to help either. The Finn’s brain has shut down and it’s probably the only thing stopping him going into a fit of rage, marching up to the labs as he had wanted to before. Fernando isn’t sure he should be thankful for that or not. “If any of you could come up with a plan, though, that would be great.”

 

“Here you are,” Rob says, plopping the small child down on the sofa. “I left a note for Ron to say where you are. I can’t think why he left you alone.”

“Went to get Jenshon and Um-Nando,” Kevin says again. He hasn’t said much the entire journey, and maybe little kids don’t like speaking as much these days as they used to, but it’s starting to worry Rob.

“I know,” he says. “He should be back soon. Don’t worry. Hey, Jean-Eric is upstairs if you want to go and play.”

He isn’t sure what exactly there is to play with, but Kevin takes himself upstairs anyway, Rob watching from the bottom in case he falls.

He’s going to have to go with Felipe now. He _did_ promise, and it _is_ a little worrying, whatever has happened to Kevin’s brothers, but he would much rather Felipe stay here. Especially after last time. There are still some things Felipe doesn’t know about Ferrari and Rob would like to keep it that way for as long as possible. But there’s no way Felipe is going to let himself be talked out of going to help and Rob knows it.

“Felipe!” he calls up the stairs. You never know, he thinks, you might be surprised and he actually has a plan. Rob doubts it though. “If you still want to go, let’s go now.”

It’s getting late and Rob would rather get this over with before the usual evening tiredness kicks in.

There’s still no movement from up the stairs. Maybe the usual evening tiredness kicked in early today. Maybe today is Rob’s lucky break. It probably isn’t worth the argument if Felipe just hasn’t heard him, though, and Rob goes up the stairs to check.

The boys aren’t there. Of course the boys aren’t there.

“Claire? We’ve got another problem.”

 

The voices disappear and Sebastian is alone again, but he still can’t move or speak or even think properly. Everything comes in and out of focus at random and, no matter how hard he tries, he can’t do anything to control it. There’s the feeling like he’s about to throw up in the back of his throat. It doesn’t move or change and he doesn’t throw up. It just sits there, the feeling, making Sebastian feel even worse. Whilst he’s alone, he manages to get a good look of the room. Images come together like a bad jigsaw and, if he could just get his brain to actually _work_ , he might actually be able to know what the room looks like. Not that it’ll help…

A noise somewhere in the room, fuzzy and more distant than the voices had been, makes his breathing hitch and Sebastian tries to look around again, but all he manages to do is make the ceiling spin.

“Huhuph,” he manages before there’s a blurry black shape in the corner of his eye. And now he wants to scream. Really scream. Because, even with his brain all gooey and melted and barely being able to bring his senses together for long enough to construct a thought, Sebastian knows who it is. What it is. And they’ve never been this close before. They’ve always been just outside. They’ve never been near him.

“Shush,” says the monster. Because Sebastian is sure that’s what it is. He doesn’t know why he can see it now. He wasn’t able to see it before, when Kimi was there. Maybe Kimi makes them disappear?

“Huhumphumphaum,” Sebastian tries and he doesn’t even know what that’s supposed to be he just wants the monster to get away from him. When it tries to place something on his head, the darkness slips through his body and, when he tries again, Sebastian realises that it’s not trying to touch him. Or it can’t touch him. But with every stroke he feels his mind form better and he stops struggling to keep hold of himself.

“Shush,” says the monster again.

“What are you doing?” Sebastian asks when he has recovered enough to form words, not sure if he should expect an answer. He’s never spoken to the monsters before. Only to tell them to go away.

“They will say you are incompatible,” the monster says.

“What?”

“They will say you are incompatible,” the monster days again. “They will think you have done this by yourself, and then they will let you go.”

That doesn’t make any sense, but Sebastian doesn’t have a chance to ask again before the monster disappears into thin air. Footsteps in the corridor outside echo into the room and a moment later, Sebastian is joined again by the owners of the voice. Except he can see who they are now. He knows what’s going on now.

“Maurizio?”

Both of the men stop, peering down at Sebastian. Without saying a word, Bernie crosses the room to the shelves and Sebastian’s eyes follow him.

“Is there someone else in here Sebastian?” he asks.

Sebastian quickly shakes his head. It’s true. The monster has gone now and it’s just him and them.

“Do you think-?”

“If he were incompatible it would have shown before,” Bernie says, still watching Sebastian. “If there’s anyone else in here, Sebastian, we’ll find them. What about your brother? Is Kimi here?”

Sebastian shakes his head again. “There’s no one here. Just me.”

“What do we do?” Maurizio asks.

“Take him to the cell,” Bernie instructs. “We’ll check the security footage, see what’s really happening.”


	26. Oh Sister I Will Help You Hang On

“Ron! Tell me what is going on!”

Everyone jumps up when Ron and Jenson return with a very confused Britta carrying arms full of shopping bags. She’s on her way to the kitchen when she spots the living room full of teenagers and stops.

“Ron, what is going on?”

“They have done something to you,” Kimi says. He’s not sure if Britta will listen to him, but it should be him to try to explain things first. He’s her son. “We do not know what, but Fernando can undo it.”

“I might be able to undo it,” Fernando says. He’s feeling a lot less confident about his abilities to do anything now that he has to do something. He glances over at Valtteri, but the Finn isn’t looking at him, watching Britta like everyone else. Only Jenson seems to recognise the uncertainty.

“You can do it, mate,” he says quietly, leaving Ron’s side to stand beside Fernando. “You did it to me fine.”

Fernando gulps and nods, taking a step towards Britta as she takes a step away.

“You aren’t doing anything to me,” she says. “Kimi, what is going on? Ron?”

“Ferrari have done something to you,” Kimi says. “We do not know what but they are evil and you _know_ this Britta. They took Fernando and Jenson. You found them, but you don’t remember. We are going to give you that back, alright?”

“No, it is not alright,” Britta says, stepping away from Fernando again. “Have you gone mad?”

“Could do with Susie,” Felipe mumbles to Valtteri, the pair of them sat on the sofa, watching the chaos.

“Thought you weren’t helping,” Valtteri says.

“I’m not,” Felipe says. “We cannot get Susie here anyway, so it is no use.”

“Maybe,” Valtteri says, taking out his phone.

“It’s the truth,” Ron says, taking over from Kimi when it’s clear he isn’t getting anywhere. “Or as much as I can tell it is. They did something to Fernando and Jenson and, when you tried to rescue them, to you as well.”

Britta stares at Ron as if he’s gone mad too and, listening to himself speak, Ron’s not entirely convinced that isn’t true. Jenson told him on their search for Britta what happened and, for reasons he himself can’t quite put his finger on, he believes him. Britta shakes her head a little, looking between Ron and Kimi and waiting for another explanation.

“Where is Sebastian?” she asks when she finally notices he isn’t there.

“They took him,” Kimi says. “And we need you to help bring him back. _Save_ him, Britta, from whatever it is they are doing to him. Because it is not good and they will not stop. Fernando.”

Fernando takes a step forward again and, again, Britta takes a step back. She turns to Ron again, expecting him to do something, but it’s clear he hasn’t come to his senses yet either.

“Just let him try,” Ron says. “It will all make sense again then, Britta.”

“If you are not going to help then I will go alone,” Kimi snaps. He’s had enough of this. They’ve already had Sebastian for long enough and he isn’t going to stand by and let his brother become one of those handicapped freaks they turned Felipe into.

“Wait, Kimi,” Fernando says as Valtteri jumps to his feet to try to stop him too.

“Am not going to sit here arguing when I could be doing something about this,” Kimi says.

“Wait,” Britta calls. This time Kimi actually stops, and the entire room seems to freeze as he turns round. Britta’s still staring at him, not sure what to say or do now she has his attention. She just knew he needed to stop.

“Just let Fernando try,” Kimi asks. “For Sebastian. Please, Britta.”

Britta takes a deep breath, but nods. If it’s going to stop Kimi doing something that’s clearly stupid, she’ll do it. She can see in how important it is – _feel_ how important it is so, this time, when Fernando takes a step towards her, she doesn’t step back.

 

“I do not believe you could be so stupid,” Claire says, still trying to get through to Ron’s mobile. The boys aren’t answering, which doesn’t surprise either of them in the slightest. It’s not entirely his fault, she would admit if she thought it would be useful. She knows she should have been watching them too, but Rob hadn’t told her he’d promised to take Felipe off to get himself killed, so she can blame him if she wants to, or that’s how her reasoning goes, anyway.

“If I didn’t say that, he would have gone by himself,” Rob says, and they’re both certain that’s exactly what’s happened now, and he _knows_ Claire is going to bring that up, but that was his reasoning at the time.

They can’t get hold of Lewis, either. He isn’t at the Mercedes house, Toto saying he’d left about five minutes before they’d arrived. There’s a chance he’s gone to pick up the boys, but Rob doubts that’s true. They’ve gone and killed themselves. He’s sure of it.

“What has he done now, Rob?” Claire asks, like Rob knows she will. “What exactly do you think he has done now?”

“I’m sorry, alright,” Rob says. He knows not to take anything she says to heart. Arguing is her way of coping. But this is not his fault.

“Ron? Oh…” Claire sighs and takes the phone away from her ear. “Answer machine.”

“We’ll find them,” Rob says, gently. “At least they’re together.”

“So they’re both in trouble?”

“They won’t let the other get into trouble,” Rob says.

It does nothing to settle Claire but Rob wasn’t really expecting it to. They’re on the way home so they can come up with another plan, find someone who’s able to get them to Italy before the boys do anything even more stupid than they’ve already done. So far, nothing has sprung to mind, and Claire tries Valtteri’s phone again, hoping this time he’ll answer.

“They won’t do anything stupid,” Rob says, and he’s not sure if he’s trying to reassure himself or Claire but either way it isn’t working. “They know what’s going on and they both have my brains. They won’t do anything stupid.”

“That fills me with confidence,” Claire says, sarcastically, angrily hanging up when the voice mail kicks in again.

“My brain is excellent,” Rob claims, opening the garden gate to let Claire in before following her.

“What has it come up with then?”

“We’ll find someone to take us to the labs in Italy,” Rob says. “They can’t have done that much damage-.”

They said that last time and by the time they’d gotten to the boys they’d both been nearly dead. Rob frowns at his own poor choice of words but hopes Claire hasn’t noticed and continues anyway.

“Ron’ll be there with them, won’t he?” he says. “You watch. They’re probably there now arguing about sending the boys home. I bet that’s where Lewis has gone. We have nothing to worry about. We’ll get there and bring them home.”

“And have to deal with them running off when we next turn our backs,” Claire says, leading the way into the house.

Jean-Eric and Kevin are in the living room with a jigsaw Susie grew out of years ago. Rob smiles as warmly as he can when they both look up at him, but it doesn’t do anything to settle either of them. They must know there’s something strange going on, but they’re a lot more worried than they were when Claire and Rob left them with Susie (much to the teenager’s annoyance).

“Are you alright?” Rob asks, whilst Claire goes to find the phone numbers for the other families in the hope of finding someone to take them to the labs.

Both boys nod, sharing an uncertain look between one another. Rob sits beside them, still trying to figure out what’s going on.

“It’s ok,” Rob says, gently. “The others will be back soon. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Kevin looks over at Jean-Eric again and, after a couple of seconds, shakes his head, returning to the jigsaw. Rob frowns.

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” Kevin says, quickly. His eyes flick between Jean-Eric and the jigsaw and he shakes his head again.

“Jean-Eric? What are you saying?”

_Somebody came._

“Who?” Rob asks

“Shush,” Kevin says, quickly. “She said not to tell anyone.”

“Who?” Rob asks again, sterner this time. Something else has happened on top of everything else and Rob really doesn’t think any of them have the sanity left to deal with something else, but he needs to know.

 _A boy came and said he needed Susie and then they disappeared_.

 

Nothing happens. Fernando’s shaking, able to see the dark spaces in Britta’s mind that the Ferrari scientists have contaminated, but he can’t change them. He can’t do anything. He steps back, tears beginning to fill his eyes. They _need_ him, and he can’t do anything.

“It’s ok,” Jenson says, gently.

“Cannot do anything,” Fernando whispers.

“Fernando?”

“Cannot do anything,” Fernando says, louder, glaring at Kimi, the one who had asked. “Am sorry.”

“You see?” Britta says, turning to Kimi. She smiles, gently, trying to make him see that there’s nothing wrong. “Nothing bad has happened. Whatever you think is happening, you must have made a mistake. Can you all leave, please? I think it’s for the best.”

“Yes!” Felipe says, jumping up from the sofa. “Let’s go.”

“Felipe,” Valtteri says, tired and disappointed.

“We are not going anywhere,” Jenson says, still holding onto his brother. “Not until this is all sorted out. Even if that means going back up there and going in for Sebastian ourselves.”

“You are _not_ doing that,” Ron says, sternly. “Maybe Britta is right. Fernando has done his best. Maybe there is nothing wrong. Boys. We are going home. Felipe? Valtteri? I think it might be best if you come with us.”

“Am staying here,” Valtteri says. “Just wait a minute. Everything will be clear.”

“Will you all just get out?” Britta asks, the stress clear in her voice. She gulps, trying to stop herself from shaking. She’s sure she’ll be able to get Kimi to calm down and see sense as soon as she gets the gaggle of teenage boys out of her house.

There’s a knock at the door and they all freeze.

“You see,” she says. “I bet this is Maurizio and Sebastian now?”

“Why would they knock?” Kimi asks as Valtteri goes to answer the door, returning with Susie, Lewis having disappearing again before he could get involved in any kind of rescue mission.

Britta just groans. “No. Out. Now.”

“Just wait a second,” Valtteri says again.

“I can’t believe we’re helping Ferraris,” Susie says, darkly. Valtteri’s already sent her the plan, or as much of the plan as he felt she needed to know. She thinks it’s stupid, but it’ll work, and then they can all go home and deal with more important issues.

She takes hold of Britta’s wrist when the parent tries to direct her out of the house along with everyone else and Britta quickly falls silent, lost in her own mind.

Everyone’s still whilst they watch Britta slowly realise what happened, not sure what to expect. She shakes her head a little, not wanting to believe her own memories, but she knows it’s true.

“You’re welcome,” Susie says, crossing her arms. “Let’s go home.”


	27. I Tried Carrying The Weight Of The World

The silence is deafening when the children are all gone, whisked quickly away by Ron. Britta stands, still in the middle of the room, shaking, whilst Kimi watches her.

_“Britta!”_

_There’s a smile that looks out of place on his face and Britta takes another step back, keeping the children behind her all the time._

_“We weren’t expecting you here.”_

_She doesn’t say anything, her eyes flicking between the people who are now filling up the room. She isn’t going to be able to protect the boys from all of them. If there was just one or two she might be able to create a distraction and get them out but even that seems impossible now._

_“These things happen, I guess. Maurizio. Take care of Britta.”_

She shakes her head, not daring to look at Kimi. She abandoned him. And Sebastian. And now Sebastian is in trouble and there’s nothing she can do.

It’s too quiet.

“Britta?” Kimi asks, gently.

“I’m sorry,” Britta whispers, still glaring down at the floor. “I’m so, so sorry.”

“It is not your fault,” Kimi says, rushing over when he realises Britta is crying. “They did something to you. You could not help it.”

It’s no good. There’s no convincing her.

“I’m sorry.”

“It is ok,” Kimi tries to say. “But we have to go and get Sebastian now.”

He isn’t hopeful. He’d thought Britta would know what to do, they would just go in with her plan and get him and then they could leave like he’d been planning. But, now, it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.

Britta nods, wiping her eyes, but she still won’t look at Kimi. He’s right. They need to go and get Sebastian.

 

Lewis brings them back home in two trips. Fernando tries to stay to help, but Ron and Felipe manage to convince him between the two of them that Britta doesn’t want their help, and he eventually agrees to go home with them.

“It isn’t your fault,” Jenson says as they walk back from the Mercedes house, Lewis refusing to drop them back home even if it would have only taken him two seconds longer.

Fernando doesn’t say anything, watching a stone he’s kicked bounce down the street.

“It isn’t,” Jenson says, putting his arm around his brother. “Whatever they did must have been different to what you’re used to. And it doesn’t matter now, does it? She remembers and she’ll get things sorted out.”

Fernando still doesn’t reply, going over everything that had happened in his head. This was all his fault. He knew he shouldn’t have told Kimi anything and that was when this all started. That was when Jenson got dragged into all this. He glances up at Jenson, not sure if they’ve done any lasting damage. His brother seems to be ok, a lot better than when he’d tried to save Valtteri, but Fernando doesn’t trust his judgement.

“I’m sorry,” Fernando says again. It must have been about the millionth time he’s said that, but he still doesn’t think Jenson understands how sorry he is.

“I know,” Jenson says, even though he isn’t entirely sure he knows what Fernando’s sorry for just yet. “They’ve done that before, haven’t they?”

Fernando nods, gulping back tears. He doesn’t want to think about that again.

“To you?”

Fernando quickly shakes his head. He guesses it doesn’t matter if Jenson finds out what happened now, after everything Ferrari has already done to him, but Fernando doesn’t feel comfortable talking about it. Not even his best friend knows what happened when he was at Ferrari.

“They were going to,” he manages to say. “But I heard them saying they were going to replace me, and I ran away. That’s why I’m here. I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok,” Jenson says again, putting his arm around his little brother. “None of that matters anymore. They are not going to hurt you again. I’ll make sure.”

 

The house is silent when they go inside, which does nothing to settle any of the Williams children. Valtteri’s already said about how much trouble they are going to be in. There’s a chance, of course, that they haven’t even noticed Susie’s missing, but they’re not relying on that.

“Rob?” Felipe calls, uncertainly, closing the door behind him.

“Mum?” Susie calls.

There’s silence for a couple more seconds, then footsteps rushing down the stairs and Rob appears. He stares at them for a moment, the phone in his hand falling away from his face, then a grin bursts onto his lips.

“They’re here,” he says quickly into the phone, not even bothering to hang up before rushing down the stairs and wrapping his arms around Felipe. He reaches out for Valtteri and Susie with one arm, but he knows Valtteri isn’t all that fond of hugs and has already been warned against giving Susie an uninvited hug. “You’re ok,” he says, eventually, letting Felipe go. “You’re all ok? They didn’t do anything to you? You’re sure?”

“We’re fine,” Felipe insists. “We did not even go to the labs.”

Rob looks between the three teenagers, not really able to believe Felipe, but Valtteri just nods.

“I was only gone for about five seconds,” Susie says. It’s true, but she doesn’t think Rob really cares about that and Claire, who Susie assumes Rob was on the phone to, will definitely not care. “Went to bring them back, didn’t I?”

“Of course, I believe that,” Rob says, but he’s trying not to laugh. “You left Jean-Eric and Kevin by themselves.”

“Kevin said he could look after himself,” Susie says, arms crossed. “Are we in trouble or not?”

“Yes,” Rob says, definitely. “You are very much in trouble. But I’ll let your mum sort that out.”

“We only went to help Fernando and Jenson,” Felipe says. “You said we could go in the evening, didn’t you?”

“I said I would take you,” Rob says. “I was scared we wouldn’t get you back again.”

He doesn’t know if they’ve somehow managed to forget what happened last time – how close they had been to never seeing any of the children again. If they haven’t forgotten, the certainly aren’t scared by it. Some would call that stupidity, and Rob would be inclined to agree with them.

“Well, that doesn’t matter now,” Rob says, wrapping one arm around Felipe and pulling Susie into the same hug. “It’s over now, right? Everyone’s safe and we are not letting you out of our sights again.”

 

Britta’s holding onto Kimi’s wrist so tightly he’s scared his hand might pop off under the pressure. She marches him up to the building on top of the hill, trying not to shake. She knows now what has happened here and is determined to not let that happen to her boys.

The guard lets them in, and she doesn’t know if that’s of their own accord or if Kimi still has some control over them, but it doesn’t matter much. She smiles a thank you, her entire face aching with the effort, and gets a nod and a blank face in return. Trying not to rush, she crosses the small yard with Kimi still in tow, and goes inside.

It’s a lot cooler inside than it is outside and Britta shivers a little in surprise. She lets go of Kimi’s wrist, noticing the way he rubs it as soon as it’s release, and whispers a sorry too quiet for the teenager to hear.

“Do you know where he is?” Britta asks, looking both ways up and down the corridor they’re stood on. One way looks exactly the same as the other way. She remembers, not quite clearly but definitely there, getting lost the last time she was here and she does not want that to happen again.

Kimi shakes his head. They might have him in some cell like they did Fernando and Jenson or they might have taken him straight to a lab. He doesn’t know which, or how to get to either of them without getting lost.

“It’s ok,” Britta says, gently, taking deep breaths to calm herself down. She just needs to stop her heart beating as if she’s being chased by a wild animal, and maybe then she’ll be able to think clearly. “Kimi, stay right behind me, ok?”

She’d wanted Kimi to stay back at the house, but had easily been convinced that it wasn’t such a good idea to leave him by himself.

He nods, moving a little closer to Britta when she makes a decision and decides to head right. Neither of them have any idea where they’re going but this was Britta’s method the last time she came and that had worked well enough then.

 

Sebastian has managed to cry himself to sleep. Or, that’s what he thinks, but he’s awake again as soon as he hears the door open. His cheeks are still stained with tears but he does his best to not start crying again, his hair falling over his eyes whilst he watches the door.

“Sebastian?”

Maurizio. Sebastian can see the tears building in his eyes as he struggles to stand, wiping them on the back of his hand but it doesn’t stop his legs from wobbling or for his breathing to gurgle in the bottom of his throat. He looks around the room but the only monster is Maurizio. There’s nobody coming to protect him this time.

“Are you alright?” Maurizio asks.

“You’re a bad person, aren’t you?” Sebastian says. Maybe Britta was right. She tried to tell him to stay with Dan and Christian before but Maurizio had told him that Ferrari were his family and it had made sense a little, before, but it doesn’t anymore. They tricked him and they probably tricked Kimi too.

“Sebastian?”

“Bad people always lose,” Sebastian says. “They get beaten up by the good guys and then they go to jail.”

Maurizio smiles, which Sebastian thinks is a pretty stupid thing to do. But then, bad guys are stupid, aren’t they, he reasons.

“Britta and Kimi will come to rescue me and beat you up and put you in jail,” Sebastian says, folding his arms to show how serious he’s being.

“Fine,” Maurizio says. “Do you want some food whilst you’re waiting?”

“No,” Sebastian says. He’s not falling for any more of his tricks. It’s probably poisoned or something.

“Suit yourself,” Maurizio says. He leans against the wall, watching Sebastian with the same smile on his face.

Sebastian is still trying to calm himself down.

“Aren’t you going to do some bad guy things?” he asks.

Maurizio shakes his head. “We were only going to help you with your powers, Seb,” he says. “No bad guy things.”

“You made my head feel funny,” Sebastian says. “Kimi says you’re a bad person and I believe him. He’s my brother. You tricked me into coming to live with you _and_ you tricked me into opening the door. That’s two bad guy things.”

Maurizio sighs. “We were just trying to help you, Seb,” he says. “It doesn’t matter anyway. Soon you won’t remember any of this.”

“Any of what?” asks a voice behind him.

Before Maurizio can turn to see who it is, Kimi rushes past him to his little brother, pulling Sebastian into a tight hug before looking to make sure he was alright.

“I knew you would come for me. I didn’t mean to open the door. They tricked me. I’m sorry.”

“Is ok,” Kimi insists, kneeling down so he’s at Sebastian’s height. “As long as you are safe, that is all that matters.”

Maurizio turns from the boys, knowing he’s going to be in a tonne of trouble with Bernie for this. This was the reason Marco had disappeared, wasn’t it? Or something like that, anyway. He almost crashes into Britta in his rush to get out.

“I think you have some explaining to do.”


	28. But I Only Have Two Hands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Bethonie was unable to use copy and paste correctly. Sigh.

It’s late – really late – and the children should be in bed, but Ron’s come around to collect Kevin and talk things over with Rob and Claire, so the kids are in the living room, trying to pretend to be watching a film whilst listening in on the conversation happening in the kitchen.

“And how long exactly have you known about this?” Ron asks, sitting at the table because he doesn’t think he can stand and listen to what’s been happening at the same time.

“The whole thing?” Rob asks. “Since Fernando came back to you.”

“That’s why he came back, isn’t it? Because he found out?”

“Yeah,” Claire says, bringing over the tea that’s just been made and handing a mug to Ron.

“And you didn’t think I needed to know?” Ron asks.

“We couldn’t tell you even if we wanted to,” Claire says. “After it all happened last time, we tried to get them to stop. It was agreed that they wouldn’t do anything as long as none of us said anything about what had happened. It was the only thing stopping them from doing it again.”

“But they still did it again, didn’t they?” Ron snaps. “Did you _see_ Fernando? Did you see the mess he was in?”

“That wasn’t out fault,” Rob says, glaring at Ron. “By the sounds of it, it was Fernando telling Kimi what happened that started this entire mess again.”

“Keep your voice _down_ ,” Claire snaps.

Fernando’s sat between Jenson and Felipe, trying to stop shaking but he just can’t. He blinks away tears, leaning against Jenson and trying to watch the film but he has no idea what’s going on anymore and all he can focus on is the voices in the other room.

“It’s not your fault,” Jenson whispers.

“It is,” Fernando mumbles back. No amount of gentle words is going to change the fact that _he_ broke the rules and _he_ got them all into trouble.

“Kimi came to you,” Felipe points out. “Would not have done that if he did not think something was wrong.”

It doesn’t settle him though, and it probably doesn’t help that Fernando can hear what’s going on in the kitchen, no matter how quiet they’re trying to be. Jenson, able to feel how upset his brother is, just pulls him closer, trying to settle him. Felipe’s hands round his wrist, but it doesn’t even seem like that is helping.

“So what are we going to do about it?” Ron asks. “We can’t let them get away with this. I’m not going to let them.”

“No,” Rob says. “We’ll go to the courts again.”

“Oh, because that stopped them last time,” Ron says.

“Rob’s right,” Claire says, keeping her voice low and trying to make sure the men do the same. “There isn’t much else we can do. Last time it was us against them. Now it’s the three of us and Britta as well and they are not going to get away with it this time.”

“Right,” Ron says, completely unconvinced.

 

“I want to know _now_ , Maurizio,” Britta says, refusing to let Maurizio past. She’s going to get an explanation and she isn’t going to let him run off to get his minions before she gets it. “What is going on? What have you done to him?”

“We have not done anything,” Maurizio says.

Britta takes a step towards him, reaching for his wrist and Maurizio knows better than to let that happen. He isn’t sure of Britta’s powers – he really didn’t think that through – but he knows better than to let her touch him.

“What is going on?” she asks.

Maurizio swallows, his eyes flicking between the boys and Britta. She reaches for his hand again but he flinches away.

“The truth,” Britta demands.

“They made my head feel funny,” Sebastian says from across the room. “They said they were going to do things with my powers.”

Maurizio glances back at the child again and doesn’t notice Britta reach for his wrist a third time until it’s too late.

“The truth.”

“Power possessors generate a large amount of energy,” Maurizio admits, unable to keep hold of his own thoughts. “We want to harness the energy.”

“And you’re using my boys to do that?” Britta asks, holding onto Maurizio’s wrist tighter when he tries to pull away. He’s fighting her and Britta can feel herself going faint trying to keep him under her control. She needs to get this over with quickly. “What are you doing to them?”

“They need better control over their powers,” Maurizio says. “We’re trying to give them that.”

“How?” Britta asks, because she is almost certain this has nothing to do with any extra tutoring sessions. Maurizio bites down on his lip, trying to stop himself, but Britta doesn’t stop. “ _How_ , Maurizio?”

“Trial and error,” Maurizio admits. “We haven’t found a way that really works. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it makes them worse.”

“You’re hurting them?”

“No- ah!”

“I am not going to let you hurt my children,” Britta says.

“An unlimited power source?”

Another voice joining the conversation makes Britta jump and she lets go of Maurizio’s wrist. He quickly darts out of reach whilst her attention’s on Bernie. Kimi already has Sebastian behind him now, mumbling about keeping him safe.

“Wouldn’t you want that?” Bernie asks.

“You are not hurting my boys,” Britta says.

“I’m sure we can come to some kind of arrangement.”

 

The four of them are stand outside the House. Clare takes a deep breath, reminding herself that this is _not_ abandoning him. It isn’t. Jean-Eric does not belong with them and this was best for him and for the children. She isn’t very convincing though, which Rob can tell despite her completely neutral face. He takes hold of her hand and squeezes it gently. He still doesn’t really understand what had happened during their last visit, not really having had much free time to think about the occurrence in too much detail, but he wants Claire to know he’s there for her. Judging by the colour of her thoughts, she does.

“Alright then,” Rob says aloud, even if he had only meant to think it. He glances down at Jean-Eric on his other side. The child’s clutching Dan in one hand, holding on the teddy so tightly Rob’s not sure he’s ever going to let it go again. His other hand is closed around Susie’s. “It’s ok, you know,” Rob says.

Jean-Eric jumps, apparently pulled from his thoughts, and looks up at Rob.

They had a small visit from one of the adults who kept the house together, and two of the boys, Charles and Mathew. Jean-Eric had been ok with the boys, as unresponsive to the adult as he had been with Rob and Claire on their first visit. It didn’t seem like much to worry about.

 _I know_.

“Alright then,” Rob says again. He smiles at Jean-Eric, receiving a half smile in reply, and leads them to the house.

Mathew opens the door, grinning down at Jean-Eric before letting them in and disappearing off to find his “brothers”. They’d tried to explain to Jean-Eric how things worked at the House but it hadn’t really made sense to him then. Charles and Mathew had just said it would make sense once he got here.

Mathew rushes back down the stairs with Charles before Claire and Rob can even take their shoes off.

“Jev!” Charles cries, excitedly, pulling the youngster out of the doorway and out of Susie’s grip. “Come on! I can show you our room and we have to share but we didn’t think you’d mind that much.”

They’re both off up the stairs before Claire can even tell Jean-Eric to take his shoes off. Mathew says something about going to find Mr Andretti to sort out the final bits of paper work and leaves the Rob, Claire, and Susie alone in the front hall. Susie leans against a wall, struggling with her shoes and purposefully ignoring her parents.

It’s still dumping. Whether this place is a nice place or not, they’re still dumping Jean-Eric here and Susie doesn’t like it. She knew what Bruno had been like before, even if he’d tried to hide it from her, and she isn’t just going to sit back and let Jean-Eric feel the same way. He needs to know someone cares.

Andretti comes down the stairs before either Rob or Claire have come up with something to say to cheer Susie up. He smiles welcomingly, which only makes Susie glare harder.

“Glad you could find us again,” Andretti says, shaking Rob and Claire’s hands again. “There’s just a few more formalities we need to go over really. It shouldn’t take a couple of moments. Do you want to follow me?”

“Why don’t you go and find Jean-Eric again?” Claire suggests. “Say goodbye?”

Susie crosses her arms. “I’m coming back to visit him,” she says. “This isn’t really goodbye.”

“Of course,” Claire says, but Susie still marches off the same way Jean-Eric and Charles have gone to go and find them.

“Right,” Andretti says again. “Follow me?”

 

“This one is your bed,” Charles says, patting the pristine covers on the bed furthest from the door. “That one’s mine and that one’s Mathews and that one’s Franck’s.”

It feels more like home to Jean-Eric, more like what he’s used to. The room isn’t exactly small, there’s plenty of space for the four boys to live comfortably in it.

Charles runs back over and pulls Jean-Eric over to sit on the bed.

“Your things are downstairs, right?” Charles asks. “Mathew will probably sort that out. He sorts most of the grown-up things out. He’s nearly a grown-up, he says.”

Jean-Eric nods. He’s never heard someone talk as fast as Charles, except, maybe, Dan, and he likes it.

“Your teddy is cute. What’s he called?”

“Dan.”

“Cool. Can I see him?”

Jean-Eric shakes his head quickly, holding Dan closer to him. Maybe he likes Charles and maybe Charles can be his sort of brother like he said but he isn’t allowed to have Dan.

“Alright,” Charles says, confused.

Someone knocks on the door and they both look up. Susie’s managed to find them, the boys’ room thankfully not too difficult to find in the maze of a house.

“Hello,” Charles says, jumping up. “Are you lost?”

“I came to speak to Jean-Eric,” Susie says, nervously.

“Oh, ok,” Charles says. “I’ll go help Mathew with your things, yeah?”

Charles rushes back outside, leaving Jean-Eric and Susie alone. Susie doesn’t move from the door, only coming inside enough to shut it.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t stop them,” she says.

“You did not need to stop them,” Jean-Eric says. “Charles and Mathew are nice and I think everyone else will be too. It’s nice here. I like it.”

“You do?” Susie asks, uncertainly.

Jean-Eric nods, happily, holding Dan up next to his face to brush the fur against his cheek. “Dan likes it too.”

Susie smiles and comes to sit next to him, still a little nervous. “You know I’ll come and visit you, don’t you?” she says.

“Yeah?”

“All the time,” Susie promises. “You’ll get sick of me in the end. And you can come and visit me if you need to.”

Jean-Eric grins up at her. “You weren’t that bad a big sister, you know.”

“And we both know that’s a lie,” Susie says quietly. “But thank you. You’re not that bad a little brother either.”

“When I left Dan, he gave me this and I gave him my teddy,” Jev says, pulling the teddy away from his face to look at it. “And I would give you a teddy but I don’t have any.”

“It’s ok,” Susie says. “Thank you anyway.”

There’s a crash as the door slams open again and Susie jumps up. Charles crashes in with one of Jean-Eric’s bags.

“Mathew has the others,” he says. “You don’t have a lot of stuff.”

Jean-Eric shakes his head, the grin on his face falling a little.

“Anyway,” Susie says, quickly. “I’ll be downstairs, waiting for Rob and Claire. Goodbye.”

Susie hurries out of the room, embarrassed and trying to hide the fact she’s blushing. Jean-Eric watches her go, only half listening to Charles as he excitedly tells Jean-Eric about something he doesn’t care about.

 

Rob and Claire are making their way back down the stairs, listening to the assurances from Andretti that Jean-Eric will be safe here and everything is ok, when the boy in question rushes past them and down into the front hall.

“Jean-Eric? Are you ok?”

Susie’s waiting impatiently at the bottom of the stairs, ready to glare at her parents in the hope that they’ll take her home quickly so she can be by herself again when Jean-Eric crashes down the stairs and into her, wrapping his arms around her tightly.

“I’m sorry I didn’t fit and I’m sorry I couldn’t stay with you.”

“What? Jean-Eric, slow down?”

He’s crying and he can feel everyone staring at him and there’s a _reason_ he doesn’t normally speak but none of that matters right now.

“I’m sorry for being wrong,” he says, quietly.

“Wrong?” Susie asks, crouching down beside the child once she manages to unwrap his arms from around her. “You’re not wrong. You’re just different. And that’s ok.”

“Ok?”

“Yeah,” Susie says, gently, aware of the fact that Rob and Claire and about half a dozen of the boys living in the House are watching them, but she doesn’t really care. “Yeah, it’s ok. And I’m going to come and visit, remember? You can’t be that bad if I want to come and see you.”

Jean-Eric laughs weakly, Dan’s fur against his face again. “You sound like Dan sometimes.”

“I sound like a six year old boy. Why, thank you. You sure know how to compliment a girl.”

Jev laughs again, sniffing to stop himself crying.

“I’ll come back and visit soon ok?” Susie asks. “As soon as possible. Would you like that?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright then,” Susie says, standing and smiling. “See you soon.”

“Bye.”

“See you soon.”


	29. End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly you guys. I don't know what I've written that makes you not trust me so much. Is it that difficult to believe in a happy ending?

This time will be better, both the Williams parents think as they sit around the table to discuss the consequences of Ferrari’s actions, again. This time they have Ron there to support their accusations and Britta is sat across the table too. They would both support them. After last time, Claire doesn’t see _how_ Ferrari can get away with this. Of course, neither Rob nor Claire were actually _there_ when it happened, but they have to make the case on behalf of the kids and they are _not_ going to let this get swept away again.

Britta squirms, uncomfortably, when Claire looks over at her.

“It’ll be ok,” Maurizio, beside her, murmurs.

Britta gulps and nods. She knows that. She has to do what she has to do for the boys.

“Right then,” Whiting says, sitting down between the two parties. It doesn’t fill Rob with much confidence. He’d been the one to settle on the punishment for the last offence and Rob’s hope of getting a proper punishment this time goes down the drain. They’ve probably punished the kids more strictly than what Ferrari will get. “What actually happened?”

“ _They –_ the Ferraris – kidnapped my children,” Ron begins, having not already figured out how this is going to go. “They kidnapped and tortured Jenson and Fernando and did the same to one of their own.”

“They broke the contract which we “agreed” upon at the last meeting,” Claire says. She knows she’s treading on thin ice, with Fernando telling Kimi what happened, but the Finn must have had _reason_ to think something was going on.

“I think you will find it was Alonso who broke the contract,” Maurizio says. “He told Kimi what happened last year, and I believe that was against the confidentiality clause he signed.”

Their fucking confidentiality clauses…

It’s true and everyone at the table knows it. It’s down to Claire, Rob, Ron, and Britta to make sure that it doesn’t matter, though.

“We’ve reason to believe Ferrari were conducting the experiments before Fernando spoke to Kimi,” Claire says before Whiting can reply. “Britta?”

They all turn to Britta, who shifts uncomfortably in the hard back chair again. She needs to do this. She needs to protect the boys.

“Yes?”

“Tell them what happened?” Claire hisses. They’ve already agreed what she’s going to say. Claire had been speaking with her over the phone talking her through how things should go. Whiting won’t be able to do anything, bribed or not, if Britta’s on their side.

“Nothing happened,” Britta says.

“You came to see us,” Claire urges, but she already knows what’s going on. She’d been sure Britta was on their side. All through the build up to the meeting, Britta has been telling them she’s on their side, but it’s written all over Maurizio’s face what’s happened.

Britta shakes her head. “I didn’t do anything.”

“Britta, please,” Claire says again. She knows she’s begging now, but if it works, she doesn’t even care.

“I’ve no reason to believe either of my boys were in trouble,” Britta says, calmly. She can’t look Claire in the eye though, which makes Claire angrier than the lies alone.

“You came us to try to get us to tell you what happened before,” Rob says. “You knew there was something going on or you thought there was anyway.”

“I do not know what you are talking about,” Britta says, coldly. Under the table, her hands are shaking and she hopes she can keep the fear off of her face. She knows those sat across the table know what’s going on. She just needs Whiting to believe her. “Can we get on with this? Please.”

 

“He doesn’t seriously believe them, does he?” Ron snaps as soon as they escape the meeting room.

Claire sinks onto one of the benches outside the room, glaring at Rob as if this is his fault. He hadn’t been sure Claire’s plan would work but had, perhaps wisely, kept his mouth shut.

“He _can’t_ believe them.”

“He can and he has,” Rob says, falling into the seat beside Claire. She looks exhausted but, when he tries to put his arm over her shoulders, she flinches away and Rob decides it’s best to leave her to it. “Look, it was unlikely we were going to get anywhere. Ferrari probably bribed him. The same thing happened last time.”

It’s the exact same as what happened last time, with the kids having to sign all new documents to make sure nobody hears about Ferrari’s dirty little secret. They can only hope that this time Ferrari stick to end of the deal.

“They could have _died_ ,” Ron says.

“That doesn’t matter to them,” Rob mutters, slightly annoyed at the fact that Ron doesn’t seem to think they understand. He doesn’t want to go over this again and again. He just wants to put this behind them now, finally.

The door opens again and Whiting, Maurizio, and Britta emerge. The men are deep in discussion, hurrying down another corridor to settle whatever they’re talking about. It’s probably the bribe, Rob reasons.

“Bitch.”

Rob jumps away from Claire as she stands, then realises, slightly too late, what she’s about to do. Claire launches at Britta, closely followed by Rob trying to pull her off of the blonde.

“Claire,” Rob snaps. “This isn’t going to help.”

“Bitch,” Claire spits again once she’s pushed Rob away. She doesn’t go for Britta, who is pushing herself up from the floor, again though. “Are you insane? Or have they gotten inside your head again? Need to get Susie to remind you what fucking happened?”

“You would have done the same,” Britta snaps. She should really go back to the rental car and wait for Maurizio to finish whatever he’s doing there, but she doesn’t move.

“Yeah but I don’t think I would,” Claire snaps.

“I am doing what I have to do so that Kimi and Sebastian are safe,” Britta hisses. If she goes along with this, then Maurizio and the others won’t touch either of her boys, and that’s all she wants. She knows they’ll probably go off and find some other power possessor and, no, that isn’t ideal to her, but it’s going to have to do. If it protects Kimi and Sebastian, she doesn’t care.

“ _We_ can keep them safe,” Claire says. “We could have kept everyone safe.”

“It’s done now,” Britta snaps, marching out of the building. They can think what they like, but she did what they would have done and if they say otherwise they’re lying.

 

Jean-Eric has discovered he’s the _best_ at hide and seek. Or one of the best. Bruno and Mathew are a little bit better than him, but he doesn’t mind that much. He’s almost always last, even though he doesn’t know the House as well as the other boys that live there. Charles – who is absolutely rubbish – says that’s because he’s so quiet, and he’s probably right.

Jean-Eric bites back a giggle as the seeker goes right past the spot that he and Dan are hiding in for the third time.

He hasn’t been here long but he already knows he’s going to like it here. It isn’t with Dan, but it feels much better than anywhere else he’s been and-

Jean-Eric shuffles back a little when another person comes into the room he’s hiding in. He doesn’t know how many people have been found, but he’s been hiding for ages and he’s pretty sure they’ll give up soon.

\- and he likes it here. It would be better if a family came and found him and took him off to live with Dan, but Mathew says that doesn’t happen very often.

“Do you know where Jean-Eric is?”

It’s Bruno. Jean-Eric bites his lip harder to try to stop himself from laughing because he’s sure he has to be last by now.

“Playing hide and seek,” Charles, who’s seeking, says.

“There’s someone who wants to see him,” Bruno says.

“What?” Jean-Eric asks, stumbling out of the cupboard he’s hiding in, bringing most of Charles’ toys out with him and trying not to trip over any of them. “Is it Susie? Or Dan?”

Charles is staring at him in awe, making a note that this is the best hiding place and he should try there next time.

“No,” Bruno says, grinning at the look on Charles’ face. “No, it’s a family. They say they want to see if you fit with them.”

“A _family_?” Jean-Eric asks.

“That’s not fair,” Charles says, sticking out his bottom lip and folding his arms. “He can’t be best at hide and seek _and_ get to go off with a family.”

“Maybe they want him _because_ he’s good at hide and seek,” Bruno suggests, unable to stop himself laughing at the thoughtful look on the younger boy’s face. “Come on, Jean-Eric. They’re waiting down in the office. They want to see if there’s a connection.”

He holds out his hand for Jean-Eric to take. Holding Dan close to him, Jean-Eric follows Bruno out of the room whilst Charles goes to tell the other that the round of hide and seek is over.

In the office, there’s a man and a woman who Jean-Eric is sure he’s seen at the assessments. Bruno shows Jean-Eric inside, then says he’s “just going to go and see if he can find someone to sort things out” and disappears again.

The man smiles at him, warmly, and Jean-Eric grins back in return.

“I’m Maurizio, and this is Britta,” the man says. “You must be Jev.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, I don't know why you don't trust me.  
> :)  
> Thanks for reading, leaving kudos, and commenting. You're pretty awesome. :D


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